Death in Appalachia
by strangeweaving
Summary: The brothers seek refuge at a KOA in an isolated Appalachian town after a tough job. As Sam deals with out of control psychic abilities, Dean tries to keep him sane. To do that, he has several local mysteries to unravel. SamOMC DeanOFC, rape, torture.
1. Chapter 1

It was two days after the new moon, and a crescent hung in the air. A slight wind from the north brought a welcome current of cooler, drier air, which is very welcome in the foothills of Appalachia in July. 

Ashera smiled, wishing she could claim credit for it, "but," she thought with a wry smile, "it was always hard to tell." She was indulging in a rare and dangerous luxury, a private outdoor ritual. The Old Law said that New Moon rituals were supposed to take place on moon dark, but Ashera was never one to follow the rules. She loved the crescent, and always waited until the moon had begun showing its face again.

One of the goats in the small field next to her snuffled in the darkness and one of the horses in the barn whinnied. Ashera surveyed the darkness carefully, hoping that there were no teenagers bent on vandalism or nosey neighbors walking their fence lines lurking in the darkness. She had come here with a few close friends to retire, but since they were all able to find jobs in the area they had started the farm over 15 years earlier than they had anticipated. The four of them were delighted to find this run down old farm at a wonderful price. Unfortunately, the real estate agent forgot to tell them that some of the most conservative churches in the state are located in the county. They had all dashed back into the broom closet as soon as possible.

The others were all away, visiting family and friends. Ashera, considerably the youngest of the four of them and the furthest from retirement, had stayed behind because of work and to feed the horses and goats and to look after the vegetable and herb gardens. She wished the three of them were home with her. Ashera was sure that between the four of them they could settle the uneasiness she was feeling.

There had been a series of strange deaths that left her uncomfortable. She would have liked to know more about the circumstances of these deaths, but since she was a newcomer to these parts getting information out of the good ole boy network was nearly impossible.

Ashera did the only thing she could do. She called on her Goddesses and Gods to help. Now all she could do was remain quiet and keep her eyes and ears open. Sometimes the Gods answered requests in the strangest and least expected of ways. She would have to be watchful to see how this help might.

Dean and Sam were at loose ends outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were still recovering in a cheap motel after tangling with an Uktena spirit in an area ranging from a park on the Tennessee River to a local college campus in downtown Chattanooga.

"Fucking idiots," Dean grumbled with irritation.

"Oh, come on, not everyone sees a bunch of people die from heart attacks and thinks, 'ok, there's an ancient Native American monster frightening people to death,'" Sam snarled back. Even though he had willingly joined his brother in hunting again after his girlfriend's death, he resented Dean's assumptions that average people believed the creatures they hunted exist. Normal people did not know about half the things they hunted. Sam wished he was one of those people.

"Sam, they should have known, especially the anthropology and history departments at that school. One of those old buzzards specialized in local history and another actually dug up those bones. Then they built the school band's marching field right over some kind of concentration camp where they rounded up Indians to get them together for the Trail of Tears! Even your 'normal' people should have known there would be some kind of problem!"

"By the way, the term is 'Native American', not Indian, and someone at the college did help us destroy the Uktena." Sam gritted his teeth and tried to sound reasonable. He was beginning to hate looking at shabby curtains while sitting in dark rooms. At least the air conditioning was working, even though the place stank of stale cigarette smoke.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Ok, mister touchy-feely-politically-correct-college-guy, 'Native American'. This wasn't a happy ending. That Jay kid was expelled and sent back to West Bum Fuck, and those idiots don't realize how many people he saved. Why don't you go back and try to explain this to your 'normal' people and see what they say." Dean's voice was rising.

Sam mentally winced. It sounded as if he was winding up for a good fight. Dean was no longer slumped on the bed but trying to sit up and face him. Sam knew he would have a hard time trying to hit him; cracked ribs would do that to a guy.

Sam sighed. "Christ! His name is Jay, not Jason. You are so concerned about him and you can't remember his name? He didn't go in blind and he knew what could happen if he got caught stealing those bones and carved shells for us. Besides, he is appealing his expulsion. That Light Feather guy we gave the stuff to for a proper reburial is helping out with that," Sam shuddered a bit at the memory. "I'm glad he is helping Jay, but damn, that man gave me the creeps."

"What's the matter little bro, spidey senses tingling?" Dean was a little jealous of Sam's unexpected psychic ability. He shouldn't tease him about it. As usual, Sam wasn't grateful for what he had, and with this he was trying to deny his ability rather than use it. They said that psychic ability ran in families. He wondered if he got it from Mom, because Dad sure as hell didn't have it. He guessed Sam could be jealous of him because he actually had memories of Mom. If that were the case, he guessed they were even. Maybe when he wasn't so sensitive about it he'd let Sam know he thought he had a little something extra of Mom. He hoped that would get him over this denial shit and get him to actually try to use it.

Trying not to wince in pain, Dean lay back. "Hey, just find a phone book and order us some pizza. I'm hungry."

Something in Sam snapped. "I'm fucking tired of eating pizza and crappy fast food! It's disgusting and I feel like I'm turning into a giant grease slick."

Dean's half-closed eyes snapped open to stare at his brother.

"I'm taking the car, going to a damned Wal-mart and buying a cooler. Then I'm getting some decent food to put in it!" he yelled.

Dean stared at him for a moment. "Here," he growled, throwing the car keys at Sam's head. "Just don't expect me to eat any God-damned rabbit food, Mr. College Guy. Remember the room key, 'cause if you forget I'm not letting you back in," he snarled. "While you're at it, get a fucking tent and some sleeping bags so we can play boy scouts."

Sam unexpectedly smiled, "Good idea."

Nora Bonesteel sat in her rocker on her front porch. She was nigh on ninety these days, and it was getting hard for her to do her knitting by the electric lamp at night. It was not a problem in the bright July sunlight. She had made a pitcher of lavender lemonade. Nora was expecting a visitor, someone she had not seen in a while.

Sure enough, about a half hour later a rough figure walked quietly out of the woods; not up the one road up to Ashe Mountain.

"Good afternoon, Rattler. Care for a glass of lemonade?"

Rattler smiled, "That sound good, Nora." Her hospitality was always good. Maybe she would offer him some supper as well.

Nora rose with a grace and strength that belied her years. Her hair was gilded with silver in a few places, but she looked nowhere near her eighty plus years.

"Come and sit a spell," Nora offered as Rattler drew closer. "You wouldn't have come all the way up here unless you wanted to talk."

Rattler only nodded and took a seat on the porch as Nora entered her home, carefully stepping over a line of salt spilled out in front of her door. Rattler frowned. She had been a feelin' it too.

A few moments later, they were sitting together on the porch, sipping their drinks. After about five minutes, Rattler asked, "Had any visitors?"

Nora rocked for a few moments, not taking her eyes off her knitting. "Jane Arrowood came by to ask me to donate something for the church sale next week." She raised her knitting to show a delicate shawl.

Rattler nodded after appearing to admire the shawl for a moment.

"Nothing or nobody else?" Rattler's tanned and wrinkled face and deep brown eyes had an unusual look of stress in them.

"No," Nora said. "That is a puzzle to me."

"A puzzle to me, too, Nora. I don't hold with talkin' to dead folks, but you speak with 'em sometimes. Seems mighty strange nobody has been up here a'talkin' to you."

Nora nodded.

"You feelin' something?" Rattler asked.

"Yes, some of the others with even a touch of the Sight are as well." Nora paused for a few moments. "You had any visitors?"

Rattler blew out air. "Ravenmocker."

Nora stopped knitting for a moment, a frown on her face. "You don't hold with talking to dead people, but you'll talk to Ravenmocker." She shook her head and continued her knitting.

"Nora, Ravenmocker a' come to the house. You know that kind never do. He said that some of those crazy New Age folks conjured up something by mistake."

"The deaths?" Nora asked.

Rattler nodded. "Jane Arrowood talk to you about it? Her son being sheriff and all."

"No," Nora said. "Jane is mighty worried. Spencer seems shook up and wouldn't tell her anything and he's been sheriff of Wake County for nigh on 15 years now. He's been thinking about calling in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. LeDonne thought that some of those young folks had something to do with it, but I set Jane right on that. They are different, but not bad. One of those girls' family is from up this way, afore all they moved to Knoxville. Spencer tries to pretend the Sight doesn't exist, but if Jane has been up here and she tells him something, he listens. He trusts LeDonne, but Spencer thinks I'm right about this."

Rattler nodded in agreement. "I hope he comes to see me soon. He listened to me when he was a child."

"We can just wait and pray for the Lord's help," the calmness in her voice did not soothe Rattler one bit. "Want a bite of supper before you leave?"

"Gatlinburg! Sam, this place is a tourist trap, not a nature retreat," Dean was exasperated. "We're in a traffic jam in the middle of Hillbillyville!"

"Well, the map says that this is close to a national park. How could I have known that Dolly Parton turned it into Disneyland?"

"That laptop you carry around?"

Sam gritted his teeth again. Dean was even more irritable than usual. He wished he would take some of the damned painkillers the emergency room doctor prescribed for his broken ribs. Still, after the Wendigo, it proved that they needed camping gear for some of their jobs. It was not as if the tent and sleeping bags would go to waste.

Out of exasperation at the bumper to bumper traffic and exhaust fumes, he pulled off into a water park parking lot and found a Tennessee state map in the glove box. "Look," he said after a few seconds. "There's a campground up in Wake County. It's just off the Appalachian Trail and it is close to a town called Hamelin. Sounds good. Peace and quiet, a bed for you and electricity for the phones and laptop. A town for shopping and restaurants and a place for you to heal up."

"Whatever," Dean replied, his head back and his eyes closed. "You're driving."

Sam did not mention how his eyes automatically snapped to that tiny mountain town. He would not admit, even to himself, that he felt a kind of nudge in that direction.


	2. Walking

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 2: Walking**

**Summary:** The Brothers Winchester begin to realize how odd Wake County is.

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Warning:** Description of sex in this chapter.

Sam and Dean were both asleep in a rough KOA cabin. Sam was finally able to convince Dean to take some of the painkillers for his ribs and was he sleeping well for the first time in days, much to Sam's relief. Dean even admitted that the sandwich stuff he bought was okay. Now all Sam needed to do was get him to eat some of the fruits and veggies.

Sam was dreaming. A slightly calloused hand rubbed across his chest while Sam trailed his fingers across his lover's collar bone. Strong arms wrapped around Sam's waist while a tongue gently lapped and sucked his nipples. Then he was pushed back on a soft bed while his blonde haired lover closed in for a passionate, deep kiss, which Sam eagerly returned. The blonde's head kissed down his chin and to his throat, stopping and paid a great deal of attention to Sam's neck, pausing to nibble, lick and suck. Sam's cock was hard, throbbing with a gentle but growing urgency. His earlobe was sucked wet and then blown across, Sam moaned. He loved to have his skin licked and them blown on. A hand ghosted down across his chest and belly, pausing long enough to tease his nipples again. Sam squirmed, his nipples felt stiffer and harder than they had ever been before. The lips on his neck gently nipped down to his chest while a hand swirled through his pubic hair, careful not to touch his cock. Sam's back arched off the bed as his nipples were nipped a bit harder. The hand playing with his pubic hair drifted to his cock. A light finger traced a finger over a bulging vein. Sam squirmed, gasping. "Please" he begged, and the hand gripped his cock loosely, barely touching as it teasingly fisted him. Sam whimpered, tears in his eyes as he desperately need relief. His balls were drawn up tight but his lover was agonizingly slow in bringing him to orgasm. He could feel a ridged cock rubbing into his thigh. Sam grabbed the cock, fisting it and hoping if he brought his lover off he would be given the relief he needed. For some reason Sam couldn't touch himself. Suddenly the blonde moved, straddling his chest, ass towards him. Sam could see the back of his balls and the toned, well rounded double curves of his lover's ass. "Please" Sam panted, needing to come, pleading with his lover. "Put a finger up my ass, Sam." His lover demanded, his voice barely more that a whisper. "Suck on it first, get it good and wet." Sam sucked his index finger, not realizing that licking his own fingers could be so sensual. His lover began his ghost fisting of his cock again. Sam sobbed as he began timidly rubbing his lover's puckered brown rose. "Sam, Sam" his lover gasped "push it in, you won't hurt me." Sam gently pushed his finger about two inches into the ass in front of him, groaning at the thought of fingering a man's ass. He was awarded by a firm squeeze on his cock. It only made the agony Sam was in worse as the hand went back to teasing his overwrought cock. "Push in deeper" his lover demanded, "you don't get to come until I do." Sam whimpered as he gently pushed his finger all the way into the lovely ass in front of him before slowly pumping. Sam couldn't believe how incredibly hot the ass was around his finger. Sam was awarded with another firm hand for two pumps before it went back to teasing. Sam was sobbing uncontrollably now, in an agony of sexual arousal. He pumped his finger faster. "Add another one" The blonde's head was close enough to his cock that Sam could feel his breath. Sam did as he was told, and after a few more pumps he felt a warm spurt on his chest and belly. Suddenly something warm, hot and wet surrounded his cock and sucked hard and fast. Sam arched as he came hard, spurting his own seed over his belly.

Sam woke with a start, feeling a sticky, warm sleeping bag on his stomach, the last of his intense orgasm flooding his senses.

He looked over at Dean to see if he was still asleep, and much to his relief he was snoring off his pain medications. He didn't want to think about the jokes he would have to put up with if Dean knew. He was sure that it would provide Dean with months of material. Sam slipped out of his sleeping bag to find some paper towels and bottled water to get the worst of the mess cleaned up.

Sam was confused and upset. This was the second time in the past month that he'd dreamed about having sex with a man. Sam still loved Jessica. He was attracted to and enjoyed sex with women. He couldn't become gay this late in his life, could he?

So why was he having dreams about men?

Sam finished cleaning up and sat down on the end of his bed, elbows on his knees. He scrubbed his face with his hands and raked his hair out of his eyes. He had been celibate since Jessica's death. Even masturbating had been hard – how do you fantasize about your dead fiancée? Especially when fantasizing about anyone else still felt like a betrayal to Jessica.

Maybe that was the key. He was dreaming about men because it felt wrong to think about any woman sexually.

Sam relaxed at the thought. The dreams he was having were just a temporary release. As soon as he had healed enough from Jessica's death it would stop.

At least he was getting some things figured out here at the campground. Sam was finally able to admit, at least to himself, that he had finally paid attention to his "spidey sense". He thought the "nudge" he felt back in Gatlinburg was another job, but instead it took him someplace good. Maybe these psychic abilities weren't all bad. It had landed them in a good situation for Dean to heal up so they could continue hunting. They were at a KOA campground on the Tennessee/North Carolina state line. The campground was owned by an older couple who were actually glad to have them here. Betsy and Jude Rice seemed like people who had never had a bad experience with anyone. They had certainly been kind to the two of them. Sam, unlike Dean, didn't feel the need to make up elaborate lies. Sam told the Rice's a carefully edited version of the truth. He gave their names as Sam and Dean Smith, and had paid cash for their first night at the campground. He didn't want one of the credit card scams to come back on them before Dean was ready to leave. Sam told them Dean had gotten hurt while doing a job in Chattanooga, making it sound like they were construction workers and were low on funds.

Sam was surprised by the Rice's response. They offered to let him do work around the campground in return for staying in one of the mini cabins for free. They had a small cabin with two beds, one electric outlet, a bare bulb overhead light and an air conditioner. Sam and Dean had to use the camp's public showers and restroom, but since they were staying for free he wasn't going to complain. There was even a small lobby with a television where he could dump Dean for the day while he did some work. Betsy Rice had brought them a home cooked meal a few times and checked on Dean throughout the day. Sam was unexpectedly enjoying his stay here.

The campground was right off of something called the Appalachia Trail. It was a hiking trail that ran from central Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian mountain chain. Hard core backpackers could make it in six months. Much of the campground business came because of the trail. People hiking often stopped here overnight, and tourists would come up in the autumn to see the leaves change. Sam could see why, the area was beautiful.

Sam grabbed a towel and clothes to slip out to the showers. There was a faint light in the east; he might as well stay up. Dean could call him on his cell when he woke up. Sam wanted to start work this morning before the worst heat of the day. He was going to be re-mulching trails in one of the more remote sections of the campgrounds. These trails were generally only used during the peak season for fall leaf viewing and tended to need a lot of work during the summer since they were only used a few months out of the year. Sam was enjoying the work, even though it meant chucking woodchips over a few miles of trail. At least Dean couldn't say he was going soft while they were here.

Sam's cell rang as he was getting out of the shower. Sam answered it quickly without bothering to look to see who it was.

"I'll be right there." He said before hanging up on him. After drying off quickly he got dressed and went back to the cabin.

Dean was trying not to wince as he was getting out of bed.

"Son of a bitch. When in the hell am I supposed to get over this? Why'd you run off and leave me?"

"I was taking a shower; you have a problem with that? I had my phone with me.  
The doctor said it would take four to six weeks." Sam was trying to keep his patience with Dean as his ribs healed. He knew Dean hated to be sick or injured. He was even more of a pain in the ass than usual, but Sam thought he had reason to be. Sam just wished he appreciated him more.

"I don't know why you dragged me to the ER. I knew I was going to be OK."

They had been over this so many times Sam decided not to bother answering. The reason he took him to the emergency room was because he was afraid the Uktena might have broken his back. Sam had spent over four hours in hell while he waited for Dean's x-rays to come back.

"Just get up and shut up. I'll take you over to the lobby. Betsy said she would feed you this morning." That should perk Dean up a bit. Betsy was a wonderful cook and Dean had grown fond of Southern biscuits and gravy.

Sam waited until Dean got dressed. Despite his bitching, it had been over two weeks since Dean got hurt and he had improved a lot.

Walking into the lobby, they were hit with the wonderful smell of sausage gravy, buttered biscuits and eggs.

"Well, there y'all are!" Betsy said as they came in. "You boys sit down right there, I have your breakfast." Betsy was a plump, grandmotherly woman with long white hair she kept in a braid. They saw much more of Betsy than they did Jude. Jude had cancer, but neither Sam nor Dean had ever heard either of them complain. They were rather frank and straight forward about the situation, making no attempts at self pity. One of the reasons they were so glad to have Sam and Dean here was because Jude was not up to the extensive summer maintenance the campground needed. They had three children, and although the family was close, all of them had moved away to places like Atlanta and Nashville for their careers. "They'll be back" Betsy had told them, "mountain folks always come home".

"You're taking care of the back trails today?" Betsy asked as she set a glass of iced tea in front of Sam.

"Yes Ma'am" Sam answered with a smile. She was like the grandmother he never knew.

"Now you take care, it's going to be a blazin' hot day. You come back up here and refill that water bottle about every hour or two or I'll be out looking for you. Dean honey, do you think you're up to helping me with some of the office work today? It would be a mighty comfort if we could catch up on things before this fall, with Jude being sick and all. I'll see about finding you a few dollars since Sam is taking care of your reckoning for the cabin." Betsy's wrinkled face showed a bit of worry for the first time Dean had ever seen.

"Yeah, sure. I'd be glad to." Dean really was glad to help. He was about to lose his mind watching daytime television and Betsy was a sweet old lady who had been good to him and Sammy. He would have helped her even without the promise of the extra money. Betsy went bustling off into the camp's office.

Sam leaned in close to Dean. "I have something to tell you if you promise not to give me a hard time about it."

Dean pretended to consider this for a moment. "Have I ever made fun of you, Sammy?"

"Forget it." Sam slumped back in his chair. Why did he even bother?

Dean was surprised. It must be something important to him for Sam not to start arguing with him about giving him attitude.

"Okay, I won't make fun of you. What is it?"

"Nothing." Dean saw he was going to have to try to coax it out of him. Damn it. He shouldn't have snarked at him. Between Dad and Jessica dying and him dealing with maybe being a psychic he probably had a lot to talk about.

"Come on Sam, I'll listen."

"Never mind" Sam quickly finished his tea in a few swallows. "I want to get out there before it gets too hot. Tell Betsy thanks for me." Sam walked out leaving half his breakfast.

Dean spent his morning sorting paperwork and doing some light filing, happy for something to do, even if he was worried and annoyed about Sam.

Sam came back a few times for water, but was in and out too quickly to try to talk with him. Dean was uncomfortable when he realized that Betsy noticed the tension between them. He wasn't used to being around people for long periods of time because he was used to traveling constantly. Dean wanted to get back on the road soon. Even helping Betsy he was getting bored and missed the adrenaline rush of hunting.

A little after noon the front door opened and Betsy went out to greet their visitor.

"Well Martha! This is a nice surprise! What brings you up here today?"

"Just wanted to check on you and be sure that you are alright, Mrs. Rice. With the deaths in the area the Sheriff wants us to patrol the back roads when we get the chance. Is there anybody new staying here long term?"

Dean cautiously looked through the doorway to see a slim and very professional looking deputy. She certainly was not the stereotypical male hillbilly deputy with a paunch and a sweaty grin. Martha didn't look like anyone he'd want to piss off. She looked like she was in her late thirties and carried herself with a quiet competence that he'd seen in very few law enforcement officers. Even though she was not in a potentially dangerous situation her hand still stayed near the gun in her holster. He quickly ducked back into the office. Avoiding law enforcement was always a good idea.

"We have a couple of young fellas staying here. Brothers who are passing though. The eldest got his self hurt doing construction work down in Chattanooga and his brother is working off their reckoning for a cabin. They're good boys, Martha. I'm sure they don't have anything to with that. They showed up two weeks after y'all found those kids from Lee College."

Dean was almost holding his breath. Damn, just their luck to show up right when there were some murders in a small community. If Martha was an example of the rest of the Wake County sheriffs department they wouldn't be dealing with a bunch of ignorant hillbillies.

There was a brief silence in the front.

"Can you tell me where I can find them so I can talk to them?" Martha asked. "Just to see if maybe they noticed anything?"

"Well, Dean is right here helping me in the office today. He stays up here most of the day because he has some broke ribs, poor dear. Sam is out re-mulching trails. Come on out Dean!"

Damn. Damn. Damn. Dean got up and walked out to the front, carefully exaggerating his injury in his walk and posture. He soon found himself face to face with Martha. She stared at him for a moment. He saw that her badge identified her as Deputy Ayers. Dean didn't think he should call her by her first name.

"I'm sorry to hear that you were hurt. How are you doing?"

Dean only had a moment to decide how to handle her.

"Well, Deputy Ayers, thanks to Mrs. Rice's cooking and the peace and quiet, I'm doing pretty good." Dean smiled at Betsy, hoping the 'respecting your elders' act would help. "My little bro takes pretty good care of me, too."

Martha looked him over again. Her first impression was that he was a smarmy little shit who was good looking and knew it. He was nervous and trying not to show it, but Martha thought Mrs. Rice was right. Anybody with half a brain would be nervous in his place. She could see him hustling pool or running small time scams, but this guy wasn't a killer. His slight affection for Mrs. Rice seemed to be genuine, so Martha had no fear for her physical safety. By the way Dean was moving he was hurt, so he was being partially honest at least.

"I'd appreciate it if you and your brother could help keep an eye out up here." Martha said reasonably. "If you didn't already know, there have been two rape-murders in the area recently. Many of us would feel better if we knew that the Rice's had someone up here they could depend on for a while". Martha gave Dean a sharp look as if to say 'Scam this old lady and I'll fuck up your life'. Dean just nodded and smiled.

Before anyone could say anything else Sam burst through the door, sweating heavily with cuts and scrapes on his forehead and shoulders. He looked like he had fallen into a briar bush several times. Martha swung around and Betsy looked shocked. Sam's eyes fell on Martha.

"Are you looking for her? I just saw her in the woods! I tried to follow her but I couldn't find her!" Sam panted.

"Calm down, son." Martha instructed calmly. "What did you see?"

"A woman. She looked like she was half starved and was wearing a dirty old blue dress. Her hair was matted and she was scratched up. I tried to get her to stop, I told her I'd help her, but she just looked back at me and kept running. I tried following her but couldn't find her and looked for what she might be running from, but I couldn't find anything!" Sam was desperate, why wasn't anyone doing anything?

Martha looked at him for a long moment, her face unreadable, as if she was trying to decide what to do. She glanced at Betsy, and the older woman returned her glance with a look that seemed to shout 'I told you so'.

"I'll take care of this." Betsy said to Martha. Martha looked relieved. She patted Sam's sweaty back and said "I'll let Betsy take care of you. Get those cuts cleaned up; you don't need to end up with an infection." Martha walked out to her cruiser.

"Why isn't anyone doing anything? Why isn't she starting a search?" Sam was still panicked by his encounter.

"Calm down, son. There is not a thing neither you nor anybody else can do for that poor girl. Go sit down in the TV room and I'll fetch something to eat and drink. Dean, there's a first aid kit under the counter. Get him cleaned and bandaged up." Betsy sounded firmer than either of the brothers had ever heard her. She bustled out of the office.

Sam was still sweating heavily and looked panicked. He was bleeding from various scrapes and cuts on his face, arms and shoulders. None of them looked like they needed stitches from what Dean could see. He wondered what had happened to his brother. He hadn't seen him this shook up about anything since Sam was about 12. Dean dragged Sam into the bathroom and tried to start cleaning Sam up but he kept batting away his hands, asking why no one was doing anything. After spending a few moments fighting with him, Dean captured Sam's face between his hands and made him look at him.

"Sam. Sam!" Dean shook his face a little to get his attention. "Chill out. You're hurt. I don't know what's going on either, but you've got to calm down and let me look at you. Let me get your face cleaned up and then you can tell me. " That shut Sam up long enough for Dean to get his face cleaned up and bandage a few deep cuts.

"Ok Sammy, what happened out there?"

"Just, I, well…" Sam trailed off, looking a bit dazed now that he had calmed down some.

"You saw a woman in a blue dress running, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, she kept looking back behind her. She was so scared and sad. I could feel it. She was hungry and so desperate. I think she was trying to get home. Something bad happened to her Dean! I know!" Dean paused at Sam's outburst, trying to decide how to continue. He was saved from deciding when Betsy returned with a plate of sandwiches and a gallon of iced tea, calling for them to come back to the lobby.

"Now you tuck into that food." Betsy said as she served Sam. "You didn't eat half of your breakfast and that's probably part of your problem. Drink up that tea, too." She sat down at the table and looked at Sam with a gentle expression.

"What's going on?" Dean asked as Sam began to eat. "Who's the lady in the blue dress?"

Betsy evaded the question. "We'll wait 'til Sam's had a few bites to eat."

Sam had to admit he felt better as he ate. "Who is she?" Sam asked again.

Betsy seemed to consider his question for a moment.

"Her name is Katie Wyler, Sam" Betsy was very gentle with him, as if she were explaining a tragic truth to a young child. She reached out and took one of Sam's hands.

"What do you know about spirits?" she asked softly. Sam jerked his hand away as if he'd been burned.

"What!" Dean gasped. Sam looked even paler under his tan.

"What are you saying?" Dean demanded.

"Now y'all don't get so het up. This happens from time to time. There are some spirits that walk. Some folks call them ghosts. Neither Katie nor any other of the spirits hereabouts has ever harmed anyone, and she won't hurt you, Sam. You have nothing to be afraid of. Sounds like you just have a touch of the Sight." Betsy said all of this in a matter of fact manner. "That poor girl has been walking long a' for you came here and she'll be walking long after."

Sam and Dean were stunned. They were so used to trying to convince people that monsters and ghost existed that the situation was surreal. They were sitting in a campground with an old lady that was telling them about ghosts!

Betsy misinterpreted their stares. "How about this, Sam, you go haul in the tools and I'll give Dean some money for helping me. Then y'all go into town and see a movie and get a hamburger from Dent's diner. If it still bothers you Sam, then you can go on up and talk with Nora Bonesteel. She knows about spirits and such."


	3. Hillbillies Always Come Home

**Author:** **atanablackfox**   
(**paintercrow** starts co-authoring later in the story)

**Summary:** As they notice how odd Wake County is, some of the residents of Wake County notice how strange the Winchester brothers are.

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 3: Hillbillies Always Come Home**: 

**Summary:** As they notice how odd Wake County is, some of the residents of Wake County notice how strange the Winchester brothers are.

**Warning:** A description of torture/rape/character death in this chapter.

"I was afraid that you were dragging us into _Deliverance_, but instead we're in the friggin' _Twilight Zone_! These people talk about ghosts as if they're next door neighbors! I was watching that cop when you came into the lobby. Why did she act the way she did?"

Sam and Dean were having an intense, whispered conversation in Dent's Diner. The place was pretty busy; apparently it was the gossip and hang out place for the local teens. Now it was Dean's turn to be freaked. "Every ghost we've ever seen has been dangerous; I think we should check out this Katie Wyler thing. You told me that you felt a nudge to come up here, maybe this is why!"

Sam sighed in exasperation and rolled his eyes, the day before hw would have given anything for Dean to take his 'psychic abilities' seriously, now he could not get him to quit obsessing over them.

"Katie wasn't attacking me, Dean, she was just there. She seemed just as startled to see me as I was to see her. She was sad, something terrible had happened to her, and she was guilty about something, but she didn't want to hurt anyone." Sam stared past Dean. He could still see the expression of grief, horror, and terror on her face. He did not think he would ever forget it.

"Maybe she is our job, Sammy! Maybe the deaths are linked to these murders! I still think we should check it out!"

"Fine!" Sam threw his hands up in defeat. "We can check out the library and research her! I still think it's a waste of time. We don't even know if these deaths are unnatural!"

Deputy Joe LeDonne was sitting in the next booth. He was off duty but dropped in for a late lunch and to keep an eye on the teens. They made up about 80 of the trouble in their small county, and Martha, Spencer and he made a point to be places where they could keep an eye on them. He may not be in uniform, but the community was so small they all knew who he was. Today he had the added bonus of keeping an eye on the two transients staying at the Rice's KOA. Martha had told him the youngest thought he had seen a ghost. Even if they were not involved in the murders, they could be trouble of a different kind. The last thing they needed was a couple of stupid flatlanders getting lost in the woods or bit by a timber rattler while trying to play 'Ghostbusters'. Millie and the rest of the volunteer rescue squad had better things to do with their time. He was glad they were going to the library instead, even if they were going to annoy Vera Kesterson, the new librarian. Millie was kindness itself; Vera would verbally cut them to pieces if they pestered her too much.

Vera Kesterson, the subject of Deputy Le Donne's musings, was having a bad day. Her brother's family was having a hard time and one of the volunteers had called in sick so she was working the circulation desk in the Wake County library. She had a Ph.D. in Library Science and she was checking out books!

This might appear to be a tiny little backwater library, but there was something real about it; it actually had a place in the local community. Hell, people volunteered to do fundraising drives to help buy books! She certainly got more respect here as a librarian than she would have in Nashville or Knoxville, even though her place in the community was a bit strange. The Kestersons were an 'old' family, but her father had moved out of the mountains when he was young. She was the first Kesterson to come back to Wake County in about 60 years.

Another fascinating thing about the area was the library itself. It was an absolute treasure trove of documents and rare books about the history and culture of the region. House to house fighting during the Civil War, the lost state of Franklin, Nancy Ward, Dragging Canoe and other people involved in the Trail of Tears, and that was just a smattering of the historical importance of the area. Then there was the culture, the old folklore, the meanings of quilt patterns, the old folk songs, the crafts.

Vera loved the way that some of the old folks way back up in the 'hollers' still spoke with Scottish, Irish and German accents. Tourists thought they had recently immigrated, but members of these families had lived in Appalachia for well over 200 years. That is how isolated the area was until recently. As a result, Vera did a lot of conservation work and had major university libraries from all over the country and Europe contacting her for information on the collection. She smirked at that. Her fellow students thought that she was crazy for taking this position at a small county library. She now worked with some of the most prominent scholars and libraries in the world as well as getting to do community library work. The government grant she had won for the conservation work gave her a comfortable income in addition to what she was paid by the county. She had the best of both worlds. 

Vera saw two young men enter the library. They were in their early to mid twenties and were easy on the eyes. Vera bit back a smile. Little Kim Jessup would fall into a fit if she saw them later on and realized she had missed out on a chance to flirt with them. Kim was a good kid, but she was still a teenager. The scruffier looking one approached the desk.

"Good afternoon Ma'am. I'm Dean Keelper with the _Nashville Times_. We'd heard that the Katie Wyler case may be reopened and we just wanted to do a little background research." He said, flashing what appeared to be press credentials. The younger one winced at this introduction. She could see why. It was a very stupid lie because there was no such newspaper. The major newspaper for Nashville was the _Tennessean_. She took a closer "look" at the two of them. The younger one was...interesting. "Is there any way that we might take a look at back issues of the local newspapers?"

"That would be 'newspaper'; the area is too small for more than one paper." Vera said calmly. She was trying very hard not to laugh in his face, his officious demeanor was hysterical.

"We have microfiche copies of the _Hamelin Record_ back to the 1960s. Any further back they are still hard copies. I'm afraid I can't let you see those. We are doing some major conservation work and can't risk any harm to them." Vera watched them very closely as she spoke.

The 'reporter' frowned and she noticed him pressing a hand to his ribs. Vera tried not to show any surprise. She should have realized who they were when they first walked in.

The younger one gave her an odd look. She would have to be careful of him.

"Well, since you're in the newspaper business, I reckon you know how to do some conservation work. How 'bout y'all make microfiche of each newspaper you look at after you get past the 1960s? The paper goes back a little over a hundred years, I'm sure there's something in there 'bout the Wyler case." Vera was purposely jazzing up her Appalachian accent. It was all too easy to play the dumb hillbilly card, and she did so shamelessly when she needed to.

Dean gave her a dazzling smile. Vera had to admit he was a handsome devil, even if he was not too bright.

"Why don't I show you the conservation room and show you how the machines work?" Vera asked, pretending to simper at Dean's attempts at flirtation. She appeared about 10 years older than him but she had no problems in her love life. Too many people still saw librarians as unhip spinsters. Another stereotype she used when it was to her advantage.

Jeff McCullough had copies of all of the _Hamelin Record_'s, so if they screwed up an issue or two, she still would have a backup. She wondered how much work she would get out of them before they realized Katie Wyler had been dead over 200 years and it was well known who her killer was.

Besides, if they were who she thought they were, she owed them a little payback. That, and descendant's of the Wyler's still lived in the region. She would try to keep these two from bothering them. They were like puppies barking at sunshine. Until they got tired of researching Katie Wyler they would not be good for anything else.

"Damn it!" Dean irritably pushed away the first published edition of the _Hamelin Record_. They had spent three afternoons in the library, coming up after Sam had put in his four hours a day at the KOA and Dean's time helping Mrs. Rice in the office as he healed. Their actual hard cash was at a good level and Mrs. Rice was feeding them most of their meals. They had gone through every issue of the newspaper and not found a single mention of the Katie Wyler murder.

Oh, they had found mentions of the Wyler family. About the most exciting thing they found out about them was Misty Wyler had played Juliet in the 1996 Hamelin High's production of _Romeo and Juliet_. There had been bizarre deaths in the last hundred years, but there was no pattern or connection between them that Dean could see.

"We should go ask for the head librarian. Maybe he will know something useful, that chick at the desk sure isn't." Dean muttered. "Are you sure you can't find anything on the 'net?" He asked Sam.

Sam shook his head and continued to flip through their dad's journal, not really seeing it. He told Dean that he thought this was a dead end. Besides startling someone, Katie was not a threat. He almost had a feeling that there was something here that already took care of dangerous demons, ghosts and monsters in the area.

The murders that the deputy had told Dean about made him feel uneasy when he thought about them, but so many people around here seemed so matter of fact about these things that he was not sure what to think.

He kept having the strangest feelings, like he was feeling other people's emotions. In Dent's a few days ago he felt like someone was watching them, but the place was filled with kids. The librarian here made him feel like she was constantly laughing at them, but the only time he had even seen her smile was when Dean was flirting with her. All of these were just a few examples, and they had gotten worse since he started trying to use his abilities. He was not having the problem at first, but they had been staying at the campground and there were not many people around. He had spent a lot of his time in the woods. Sam found himself looking for excuses to not go into town.

He was getting scared. Was he mentally ill? Some mental illnesses did not start showing up until your early twenties. He was still having sexual dreams about men. Sam was questioning both his sanity and sexuality. At some point he was going to have to tell Dean. As much as they may squabble, he could not put his brother in danger because he was unstable.

"Sam! Sammy!" Sam was jolted out of his thoughts by Dean shaking his arm.

"What?" Sam asked, feeling a bit dazed.

Dean looked closely at his brother. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Sam shook his head, both to clear his thoughts and in a subconscious signal that no, he was not okay. Sam shuddered, now he felt like someone was watching them.

Dean was getting worried. Sam was acting spacey and he was waking up several times a night with nightmares. He was not eating much and was constantly looking around. Dean did not know what to do to help Sammy. The scales from the Uktena that Light Feather had given him did not seem to be working. Light Feather had given him what looked like four quartz crystals, one large one and three small in a doe skin bundle, saying that it helped a psychic's control and to focus their abilities. They had to be occasionally smeared with a drop or two of blood. He had put some of his own on them and took some of Sam's blood from his bandages as well. Was that what was causing Sam's problems? Did Light Feather lie to him for some reason? Sam said the guy gave him the creeps. He wished he knew someone he could ask. Maybe Mrs. Rice could help since she knew about ghosts.

Sam would have been comforted if he knew that someone was watching them. Vera was carefully surveying them from behind a bookcase. She was used to moving around the library undetected to keep the teenagers from causing mayhem or making out in the stacks. She was feeling rather guilty, but not about getting them to help conserve the newspapers. Sam was obviously a powerful psychic dealing with his abilities after suppressing them, and other things, for most of his life. Vera wished she could help him, but he was not ready yet. If she tried to help him now, he would be startled and shy away, like a young horse. His brother was worried about him and bound to be defensive. She would have to wait until they both realized that they could not handle this on their own and were desperate enough to take help from anyone. All Vera needed to do was to be sure that they did not leave until Sam was stable.

Vera's eyes narrowed as she saw the journal on the desk next to Sam. It was filled with badly done drawings, newspaper clippings and unorganized notes on supernatural creatures, and not the friendly ones. The journal looked like it had been cobbled together by someone more obsessed than stable. Shit. Not only was Sam a psychic, he and his brother were also Hunters. Amateur Hunters with a journal written by someone who was disturbed and a baby psychic. Damn. She would make up a story of some sort to get Sheriff Arrowood to throw them into the county lock up if she had to. These two were not going to leave Wake County until she was sure they were fine. Damn it, her hillbilly librarian act was going to work against her. She had not been truly honest with them in the beginning, and that would make it harder for them to trust her. Once again, she had outsmarted herself through her own arrogance. This time someone else was paying for it.

What a tangled web indeed.

Sam thrashed around in his bed. He was standing in a small, cool cave with a dim green light that pulsed and shimmered across pale walls. He heard a noise to his left and was struck with horror at what he saw. Two gigantic men, so large that they could not be real, were fucking a young woman. One of them had her bent over his lap while he spanked her slowly. Her ass was bright red and the man spanking her would stop occasionally and gently rub her ass before fingering her and rubbing her clit for a few moments, and then go back to his rhythmic spanking. Another one was kneeling by her head and thrusting his cock deep into her throat, his hands grasping her long, dark brown hair. The girl squirmed and shuddered, but they showed her no mercy. The one spanking her seemed to be bringing her to the brink of orgasm time and time again just to go back to spanking her. Eventually the man spanking her started finger fucking her ass brutally and with little lubrication. Sam could hear shrill screams at this invasion even around the cock that was still fucking her mouth. He knew he had to stop it, but he could not seem to move. The man - the monster – that was fucking her mouth began grunting with what Sam was sure was an orgasm. When he pulled out of her mouth the girl started choking and gasping for air, but the man spanking her just laughed and started bringing his hand down on her ass even harder before rubbing her clit again, making her squirm and beg. One of the men laid her down gently on her back and started licking her clit and pussy while the other one stroked her breast and played with her nipples. Their motions seemed gentle, but they were both holding her down. They brought her to the edge of orgasm again and again, but whenever she got close, they would start pinching her nipples viciously, finger her ass and spank her pussy brutally before going back to teasing.

Eventually, they allowed her to come, and when she did, the entire cave echoed with her cries. Her face was flushed and she was sweating heavily. The two men seemed to glow with a greenish light they seemed to be pulling out of the young woman.

One of the giants smiled, and he slowly turned his head towards Sam, an obscene smile playing across his lips. Sam felt a strong feminine presence behind him suddenly. She grabbed him and threw him backwards, putting herself between him and the demons.

Dean woke up hearing Sam thrash around in his bed.

"Damn it," Dean muttered as he got up. He did not resent Sammy waking him because he was more worried about his nightmares. Dean turned on the light and frowned. Sam usually woke up from his nightmares faster than this. His eyes were fluttering but he obviously was not awake and he was fighting the sleeping bag he was in.

"Sam, Sam!" Dean tried shaking his brother's shoulder to get him to wake up. Sam's eyes snapped open, but he started screaming loud enough for half the campground to hear him. Dean took both his shoulders and shook him, yelling his name.

Next thing Dean knew he was flat on his back on the floor with Sam on top of him, still tangled in the sleeping bag and thrashing around. The left side of his face felt like it had been hit by a brick and by Sam's screams it was obvious he still was not awake. Dean flipped Sam over on his back and sat straddling his chest and pinned his hands above his head. Dean was glad that Sam was still half in the sleeping bag; it made it easier to keep him pinned. Dean had lost muscle while healing, and Sam had built up plenty doing work around the campground. He had to get Sam awake and calmed down quick. He did not want the police called. They might haul Sam off to a mental hospital, especially since one of the deputies had seen him in a panic over seeing a ghost already.

Sam struggled for a few moments more before his eyes seemed to clear and he stopped screaming and began to taking gasping and shallow breaths.

"Dean?" Sam asked, but he still sounded dazed and his eyes did not look like they were focusing right.

"Come on, Sam, talk to me," Dean ordered, staring into Sam eyes as if he could bore into his mind. Dean was afraid and on the verge of tears out of fear for his brother, but he could not show it. Not now. He had spent too much time trying to keep scared people from panicking that he knew you had to stay cool. If you started freaking then they would only freak worse and the situation would get dangerously out of control. He clamped his legs tighter around Sam's ribs and leaned more pressure onto his wrists. Dean was not letting Sam up until he was sure he was totally awake and in control.

"Let me up, you're hurting me, jack ass. Why am I on the floor?" Sam was trying to sound as normal as possible so Dean would let him up, but his voice was unsteady and he was shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm. His skin was clammy and cold, even in the heat of early August. Dean had to work hard to keep his dominate scowl in place. He could feel Sam's rapid pulse from where he was holding his wrists. Sam was in actual medical shock and it was from a "nightmare."

"Okay, I'll let go, but only if you swear to me you won't try to get up right now." If Sam tried to get up right away he could get dizzy or even pass out from the shock. Either way, he could hit the floor again and hurt himself.

"Sure," Sam said. He had to admit he was not sure if he could get up. Dean let go and stood up to loom over him, still scowling. He quickly rearranged both of their bedding. Dean was glad he was just about healed up. Before his brother could register what he was doing he scooped Sam off the floor and plopped him on the bed. Then he arranged his pillow and sleeping bag under Sam's feet to prop them up and zipped Sam up in his own sleeping bag to keep him warm. Dean was relieved; he had not felt any pain picking up Sam. Dean sat down on the bed next to him, still scowling and exuding a certain physical menace. With Sam zipped into the sleeping bag it would be hard for him to get past him.

"Okay Sammy, what's going on? I know you've been friggin' holding back on me. Start talking." Dean knew he was bullying his little brother and taking advantage of his condition, but he did not care. Something was very wrong.

After a few deep breaths, Sam began talking, and he told everything. The dreams about other men, the strange feelings when he was around other people and the nightmare he just had. Whenever Sam began to falter or close up, Dean pushed and bullied him until he kept talking. Dean felt a growing tension in his temples and neck. This was far worse than he expected. Sam was crying like a child by the time he was done. Dean kept his jaw clenched to keep from crying himself. He had to stay strong in front of Sam. He could cry in private later on. Dad had trained both of them not to show their emotions, either to the monsters or to the people they were trying to help. They had a hard time showing emotion to one another, but right now Dean felt his control tested more than at any other time in his life. He had to remind himself repeatedly that he had been raised as a warrior.

Dean grabbed some bottled water and paper towels so Sam could clean up his face. As much as Sam bitched about Dean ordering him around, right now it was obvious he was not up to making any decisions. Dean was scared. He did not know what to do with Sam. Normally they traveled so much from place to place they had no one else. He and Sam were on their own since Dad died; they had to take care of one another. Maybe they should pack up and leave at first light. Dean bit his lip. Sam said he had more problems around people, and this place was pretty isolated. The Rice's had been helpful, they were the closest things to friends they had right now. They could call Light Feather back in Chattanooga, but Sam did not trust him.

Then a thought hit him. What about this Nora Bonesteel that Betsy Rice had told them about?

Ashera woke up cursing. The Goddess be damned things were getting stronger and there was an inexperienced psychic out there that would be a tasty morsel for them. Even if she scared them, she was tackling the two brothers tomorrow when they came to town. If they spooked and tried to leave, she would go to Plan B. She just hoped she was good enough to manipulate the Wake County Sheriff's department.

Ashera knew she would have to be especially careful of Spencer Arrowood. His mother was close to Nora Bonesteel. She knew the old woman was a powerful psychic and she respected her from a distance. Nora had abilities that Ashera had to train for years to attain, and the old woman had decades more experience using them. Ashera wished she could approach Nora Bonesteel directly, but she was afraid to. The story around town was that the woman was a strong Christian, and Ashera did not know how she would feel about a coven of Wiccans as next door neighbors. The farm was in the shadow of Ashe Mountain.

Both Ashera and Sam would have been relieved to know that two others had the same dream. These two had just as much concern for Ashera as for Sam. However, they did not think that she was ready for their intervention yet.

Sheriff Spencer Arrowood was usually a calm, steady officer that the voters of Wake County depended on in times of crisis. Today, anyone who knew him could see he was under strain. He and Doc Benton were looking at the body of Kim Jessup, a local teen home from college for the summer. Her body was totally nude and her clothes were lying neatly folded a few feet away. She was in a small cave just over the line from the national forest and in Wake County's jurisdiction. Spencer wished to God she was not, and then he could hand it off to the FBI. Kim looked like her body had been posed as if she had been masturbating when she died. Healthy 19-year-old girls did not wander off into woods they had known since childhood and die from dehydration while masturbating in a cave. He was glad that the only people there with him were Doc Benton, Millie from the rescue squad and Martha.

"Hell," Spencer swore softly. Only Martha was close enough to hear, but she covered her surprise well. A bit louder he said, "Everyone please keep this under your hat. Carver and the rest of the Jessup family don't need to know the details."

Doc Benton and Millie Fortner both nodded. Doc Benton was the local pediatrician as well as the medical examiner, but he sent all the really tough cases to Johnson City. Millie Fortner also transported bodies in addition to her rescue activities and teaching CPR classes. Everyone in a small community like this wore multiple hats. Everyone at the scene had known Kim Jessup since she was a young child. Her family was one of the "old ones" in the area, the first Jessup's in the area came at the same time as the Wyler's, Greer's, Ayer's, Arrowood's, Bonesteel's, Stargill's, Sorely's, and Kesterson's. The Fortner's, Benton's, the Rice's and the Phillip's had come later, but were no longer considered "outsiders." After all, they had been here for over a hundred years now. It took generations before you were no longer considered a "newcomer." Old or new, the entire community was proud of little Kimberly Jessup for winning a scholarship at Yale. She was not rich or particularly pretty, but she was Wake County's favorite daughter.

"We've received calls from the National Park Service," Martha said slowly. "Five hikers and tourists have gone missing in and around the Wake County area in the past two months. Then there are the two Lee College kids we found. All of them in caves, nude and with evidence of some sort of sexual activity and all of them dead from strange causes, dehydration, stroke or heart attack. Healthy young people do not die like this."

Doc Benton nodded his head. "I've sent all the victims out to be autopsied, but there are no signs of trauma; no injuries, defensive marks, nothing."

Millie glanced at Spencer. "What about those two boys out at the KOA?"

Spencer shook his head. "We've been watching their movements. Between the Rice's and Vera Kesterson at the library, we know where they are just about 24/7. We know where they've been since before Kim disappeared. Unless they can be two places at once, they're not behind these deaths."

"The Rice's can't praise them enough," Martha added. "With Jude Rice being sick and all the runs they have to make to Johnson City for treatments, Betsy reckons they'd have to close the campground without them. It's early August now and their busy season starts in September. I spoke to one of them. He's no saint, but he's not a killer either."

"We need to go notify the Jessup's. At least we don't have to put them through identifying the body. I think Doc Benton qualifies as her pediatrician. Are you ready to go Martha?" Spencer asked.

"No." Martha said quietly, "I'm not ready to go tell the Jessup clan that their little girl is dead, but it's better us than the grapevine." Martha, like the rest of them, was trying to control her grief. In a community this size, everyone would sincerely mourn. Flags would be at half staff throughout the county by tomorrow morning and crying would be heard in random places all over town.


	4. Ravenmocker

**Author:** **atanablackfox**   
(**paintercrow** starts co-authoring later in the story)

**Summary:** More of the supernatural creatures of Wake County notice the Winchester brothers.

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 4: Ravenmocker**

**Summary:** More of the supernatural creatures of Wake County notice the Winchester brothers.

Nora Bonesteel worked her loom while sitting in the bright sunshine of her living room. Nora could feel a storm building, a bad one. The young ones in the valley were already being buffeted by the winds, but they did not have enough sense to come inside or ask for help. They were all bounded by their own fears which kept them from reaching out to one another. Nora shook her head. She and Rattler were getting too old to protect these mountains; it was time to train up those who were to follow. The young ones were going to have to get over their fears quickly, or it would be bad for all of them.

At least one of the youngsters was coming to visit her today. Not the one she had hoped for, but at least it was a start. She had send a thought out to Rattler. This one would be best left to his hands. Nora would also start cooking a good meal. That got the men folk up here quick enough and this youngster needed calming. She was baking a cake for the Jessup family anyways. Nora needed to get ready for the funeral. Even though she never attended them, Nora stayed at the family's home during the ceremony and took care of the old customs.

The next morning Dean told Mrs. Rice that Sam was sick. What he did not tell her was that he had bullied Sam into taking some of the narcotic painkillers the ER doctors gave him for his ribs. Sam was sedated and should remain that way for most of the day. He told her that he thought Sam had heat exhaustion. Betsy had immediately made up a plate of sandwiches and a jug of iced tea to take over to him and was more than happy to give the two of them "the day off."

"We'd have to close down the campground if it weren't for you boys," Betsy Rice said. Dean noticed that there were tears in her eyes, which made him uncomfortable.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked carefully.

"I'm just counting my blessings. Kimberly Jessup was found dead early this morning. She was a good girl, just home from college for the summer. I'm just glad to have y'all up here helping and knowing all my grandbabies are safe. I called all my children this morning."

Dean was continuously amazed by these people. Jude Rice was dying of cancer, the only reason their business was staying open was because he and Sammy were there to help out, and now a woman she knew was dead, and even through her tears she was "counting her blessings?" He made a mental note to never use the terms 'hick', 'red neck' or 'hillbilly' again. Dean found himself actually blushing and ducked his head.

"Well, you've been good to us too Mrs. Rice," Dean mumbled.

She smiled. "It's strange and wonderful how the Good Lord can bring folks in need together. You go rest and take care of Sammy." Even through his stress he had to smile at how she had started using Sam's childhood nickname.

"I was thinking about going to see Nora Bonesteel today. Could you give me her phone number and directions to her place?"

"Sammy still having problems about seeing Katie Wyler?" Betsy asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, honey, let me tell you Mizz Bonesteel doesn't have a phone. She's the only one who lives up on Ashe Mountain and the phone company has never strung a line up there. You'll just have to drive up." Betsy said with a little laugh and gave him the directions. "Y'all be careful at night. I thought I heard a panther screaming in the woods." Dean swallowed hard. She'd heard Sammy but thought it was a wild cat.

He thanked her and took the food and tea and headed back to the cabin.

Sam had woken up twice more during the night with nightmares. He had not screamed at the top of his lungs either time but once he barely made it to the door before he puked. The last time Sam had tried to leave, saying that 'they' were going to kill another woman.

After Sam had calmed down and taken the pills, he had turned him over on his side and put the cooler behind his back. Dean then bent Sam's knees and bunched up other sleeping bags and clothes around him so Sam could not turn over on his back or stomach. That way if he started puking again there was no chance he could choke or drown in his own vomit.

Dean was glad that Dad had made them get emergency medical training. He would not know what to do with Sam otherwise. Dean went to check Sam's skin temperature, pulse and breathing. His skin felt okay, his pulse was steady and strong and his breath was slow and shallow. His eyes fluttered open as Dean was checking his pulse in his neck, but it was obvious that Sam barely knew where he was.

Dean picked up a length of rope and looked at Sam. He was thinking about tying him down. Crisscrossing the rope over his chest and arms, and then securing him to the bed frame so Sam could not get up while he was gone. Dean threw the rope away violently. He could not believe he was thinking about tying Sammy up. He could not believe he had already drugged him. Nora Bonesteel was his last chance. If she could not help he would have to take his little brother to the local mental hospital and hope they could.

Screw it. He could not run the risk of Sam sleepwalking out into the woods. Dean trussed Sam up tight and checked to be sure none of the ropes would cut off his circulation or slip around his throat. Sam struggled a bit, but he was so drugged he could barely move.

When he was through, he knelt by the bed and pressed his forehead to Sammy's. For just a split second he felt like he could touch his brother's confusion and pain. Dean kissed him on the top of his head and stroked Sam's sweaty and greasy hair. "I'm sorry Sammy," Dean whispered. He was using his childhood nickname not to tease him, but because he remembered Dad saying he was responsible for keeping little Sammy safe when they were kids. In a strange way, Sam had been his responsibility since the night Mom died and Dad put Sammy in his arms and told him to run. "I love you Sammy," Dean whispered. It was the first time he had said it to him since they were little. "Love you Dean," Sam mumbled. Dean kissed his brother lightly on the lips.

He stood up and rubbed his cheeks and eyes with the back of his hand. He needed to hurry so he could get up to see Nora Bonesteel and be back before Sam woke up. Betsy had told him that it could take up to an hour to get up Ashe Mountain. Dean took the shotgun he kept next to the bed to lock in the trunk of the car. He had brought it in last night just in case he could see what was attacking Sam. Dean hoped it was a monster or ghost of some sort and not Sam's own demons. He turned the air conditioner up to high so Sam would not get overheated while he was gone.

Dean stepped outside and locked the door securely. He turned away from the door to find a man standing less then 10 feet away from him.

"Shit!" Dean swore. He could not believe this guy had snuck up on him. He hoped he had not seen Sammy. The man was about six foot two and looked like he had just walked off the set of a bad western movie. He had the long black hair, coppery skin and dark eyes of a stereotypical Native American. He was wearing nothing but leather leggings and moccasins.

"You are wise to go to Ashe Mountain today."

Whatever Dean was thinking, he certainly did not expect this guy to accuse him of being wise.

"Do I know you?" Dean asked belligerently. Who the hell was this guy? Did Betsy tell him about his trip today?

"No Dean, you do not, but you will." The man was regarding him with a steady gaze that gave Dean the creeps. Besides talking, he seemed to be standing totally still.

"Who are you?" Dean demanded.

"Some call me Ravenmocker, but I am not here to introduce myself to you. I have come to give you some advice. First, although you have had to be harsh with him, your brother will have a chance to heal. Going to Ashe Mountain today is the best way to do this. Second, Sam would have these problems no matter where he was, and leaving here right now would be disastrous. Third, what you were given in Citico is not what you think, but it will still be useful to you and is not harming Sam. Fourth, the scholar has deceived you, but she regrets this. You need her, so remember what I say of her. And fifth, you have the chance to receive the training you need as well as Sam. Last of all..."

"Who says I need training? And what is all this mystic mumbo jumbo?" Dean interrupted.

Ravenmocker looked at him scornfully. "There is more to Hunting than rock salt, shotguns and lighter fluid. Do you want to hear the last of my message or would you rather lose your brother?"

"Are you threatening him?" Dean was getting more and more worked up. Maybe he should just shoot this friggin' thing.

"No Dean Winchester, I am not. You and your brother are needed here, and that is my last message. There are many needs here, both yours and others. You all touch each other's lives and can meet your needs through each other. Do not let the isolation of your childhood keep you from receiving the help you so often give. Tell those on Ashe Mountain what I have said."

With that, Ravenmocker nodded once and walked into the woods.

Dean thought he had seen it all, but this beat anything he had ever experienced. This was certainly the first time a ghost had given him advice. Well, he thought it was a ghost. He was not sure what Ravenmocker was. Dean scowled. Was it safe to leave Sammy here with that thing roaming around? And what about Katie Wyler? Where the hell is Citico? It sounded familiar, but Dean could not place it. Some of the ghosts they encountered on the asylum job were helpful. Maybe Ravenmocker was one of their kind.

Dean ran to the campground lobby, the shotgun was still in his hand. He slowed down as he approached the office. Dean walked in and Betsy came out to the office to see him.

"Dean, what's the matter? Has Sammy taken a turn for the worse?"

Dean took a deep breath. "No, he's okay, just tired. I saw something, though."

Betsy looked at him cautiously. "What was it?"

Dean told her about Ravenmocker, but left out the advice he gave him. He just said that he had told him that Sam would be fine.

To his relief, Betsy just smiled and shook her head. "Y'all do seem to attract the spirits. I've never seen Ravenmocker myself, but don't you worry about him. He probably just saw Sam out there working and was checking on him since he wasn't out yet today. Ravenmocker might be a bit of a prankster, but he never hurt no one. You don't mind him."

Dean thanked her and turned to leave.

"Dean honey!" Betsy called to him when he got to the door. "Hunting season hasn't opened yet! It doesn't start until the end of this month!" Dean looked at her blankly for a moment before he realized he was still holding the shotgun. He looked at the campground's calendar and was shocked to see that it was well into August. They had been here for over a month!

When he got in the Impala, Dean wrote down everything he could remember about Ravenmocker's message.

Vera Kesterson was distraught that day but trying not to show it. Her eyes, like so many others, had tears in them. She kept looking for Sam and Dean but they never came in. Vera waited until about 2:30 p.m. and decided she was going to have to go find them.

Vera carried a large burden of guilt in addition to sorrow. She had asked the Gods for help, and when it arrived she was so busy being amused by their naiveté to be honest with them. Maybe if she had have done things differently Kim would still be alive.

Sam needed her help too, and she was not going to let him get hurt or die because of her arrogance. If need be she would swallow her pride and fears and go to Nora Bonesteel. Vera did not think that she would deny her help to anyone, even a Wiccan. Even if she lost her job or the locals started harassing her, she would accept it. Despite the brothers' silly lies she and everyone else knew that they were staying up at the KOA. No one was in the library, so Vera just locked up and put a sign on the door.

Dean had a lot of time to think as he drove up to Nora Bonesteel's. Sam seemed to be worried about what he would think of him if he were gay. Two months ago Dean might have been freaked. Now he did not care. Dean could not believe that he could ever been concerned about Sam fucking guys. Hell, Sam could have a boyfriend join them hunting and he would be glad. That would mean Sam was okay and up to hunting again.

He just wanted Sammy to be okay again.

Nora had her cooking done for Dean's visit and Rattler arrived about a half hour ago. They could see the trail of dust his car was kicking up as he drove up the dirt road.

Rattler was carving a rose out of a large piece of wood and Nora was knitting. She had made a full set of baby woolens for Clayt and Kelly Stargill's baby that was coming at the end of September, as well as an afghan for his crib.

She was now knitting a pretty sweater for Kayla Stargill, Kelly's daughter from a prior marriage. Her no-good daddy agreed to give up his parental rights so he would not have to pay child support and Clayt could adopt her.

Kelly was the Wake County dispatcher and Clayt worked for the Park Service these days. The two of them might have a role to play in this before the storm was over.

Nora and Rattler were pleased. Little Kayla was strong in the Sight and so was the little one coming. Since both Kelly and Clayt's parents were dead Nora stood in as the children's grandmother. Another generation of Guardians to train up. Now all they needed to do was to straighten out the Guardians and Hunters that were coming fully into their responsibilities.

Dean was anxious as he pulled his car up to the mailbox. The house looked like it was well over a hundred years old and had a large yard around it. Dean noticed a garden of some sort over to the other side of the house and there were flowers everywhere. On the covered front porch two people sat, both in rocking chairs. One was an elderly woman knitting, the other a slightly younger man whittling.

"Come on up Dean." The woman called out to him. "I'll set dinner on the table."

Dinner? It was early afternoon. Dean hoped she was not senile. Then he realized she knew his name too and he faltered for a step. Was everyone in this friggin' county either a psychic or a ghost?

The woman who he assumed must be Nora walked into the house. The old man laughed.

"Come and sit a spell. We all need to talk a bit. I go by Rattler and the lady who greeted you is Nora Bonesteel. A flatlander young 'un like you doesn't drive all the way up here unless he has a mighty big problem. Don't be too scared of Nora. Everybody here 'bouts know 'bout you two. The Rice's are well liked and they speak highly of you and your brother." Rattler was trying to make Dean more comfortable. He looked like a frightened bird ready to take off. That was not how Nora knew who he was, but he was not going to tell Dean.

Dean sat down in Nora's vacant chair, feeling uncomfortable. How could he just blurt out his fears? Or tell them that he had drugged and tied up his younger brother because he was afraid he was delusional and might wander off and hurt himself?

Rattler looked him over with a kindly eye. "Young 'un, we have a notion as to what's happen' here 'bouts. You ain't alone in this unless you want to be. You and your poor brother back at the campground are 'a needin' our help."

"I saw Ravenmocker this morning!" Dean blurted out after a few moments, not knowing what to say.

Rattler laughed. "I'm glad to know I ain't the only one he pesters!" 

Dean was saved from responding by Nora coming to the door and telling them to come in for supper. Walking into the living room, Dean was stunned. Most of the back wall of the living room had been removed and replaced with glass that gave an awesome view of the mountains around them.

In a corner near the window was a gigantic hand loom. The room was large and sparsely furnished, but even Dean had to admit it was beautiful with its oak wood paneling and floors. Rattler nudged him in the back to get him to follow Nora.

"I am glad you like my home," Nora said with a rare smile. The kitchen turned out to be another study in simple beauty. Nora motioned to him to sit down in a ladder-back chair while serving him cold roast chicken and some sort of vegetable sandwiches. She poured him a tall glass of what looked like pink lemonade.

"The food looks good," Dean said quickly, "but I've got to back to Sam." Haltingly, he told them what he did to Sammy before he left.

"Your brother will be alright," Nora said calmly. "He's still asleep and will be for a good while now. You don't need to go charging back before you get what you need to help him. Now tuck into your food."

Dean started eating.

"Dean here says that Ravenmocker a 'came to see him today. What'd he say?"

Dean was glad Rattler took the initiative. He pulled out the list he had written down from his pocket. He quickly went over the things Ravenmocker had told him.

Nora and Rattler both seemed to consider this for a few moments as they ate. Dean sipped his lemonade and was surprised by the flowery taste of the drink in addition to lemon. He liked it and found himself slugging back most of the glass. It seemed to fill a deep craving he did not know he had. Nora did not comment and refilled his glass.

"Thanks," Dean mumbled feeling embarrassed. He had to get out of here soon. This town was too freakin' weird even for him. The sandwiches were cucumber and tomato on some kind of home-baked bread and were very good.

Nora and Rattler looked at each other, trying to decide how much he could handle hearing.

"I think we can explain most of what Ravenmocker told you." Nora said slowly. "Your little brother, Sam, he has the Sight?"

"You mean psychic?" Dean asked. Nora nodded.

"Yeah. Sam seems not to be able to control it. I think it's making him sick."

"Those that start using it after their childhood often have problems with it. Can you think of any reason he would try not to use it?" she asked.

Dean swallowed a mouthful of chicken. "Well, we've spent most of our lives hunting since Mom died. Sam left us to go to college. He only started hunting again after Dad didn't come back from a job and his fiancée died. We found out that Dad died while fighting a ghost." Dean trailed off. How could he explain this to them? He had never talked about hunting to anyone besides Dad and Sam. They only told the people they helped the absolute minimum. 

"Those critters y'all hunted scared him bad, didn't they?" Rattler asked, nodding wisely.

Dean began to relax. It was becoming easier to talk with them since he did not have to explain every little thing.

"Yeah," Dean said slowly. He thought it was just normal kid fear. Sammy always seemed more scared of them when they were kids than he was. Maybe there was more to it than that. Maybe he felt them as well as saw them. Dean was feeling guilty about making fun of him for it now. He was probably part of what caused him to try to block his abilities. He'd called him a sissy, a girl and a scardy cat when Dad was not around.

"I think we can help him," Nora said. "How long has he been having trouble with the Sight?"

"A little more than a month."

"Good," Nora said. "It will make it easier to get him straight. I was afraid it was longer. We'll talk about what you need to do with him right before you go so it will be fresh in your mind."

Rattler nodded. "I reckon I agree with Ravenmocker about Sam a' leavin'. Folks up here understand these things. I think we can set him right afore too long."

"Let's move to the living room since we have finished up. I'll clear the table later. Bring your drink son, you need it."

Dean looked at Nora. "What's in it?" he asked.

"Lemon, honey and lavender from the garden. It is good for stress and worry. You can have all you want. I reckon you need it bad enough."

Sitting down in the living room Dean had to admit he was feeling less stressed out than he had in days. These two seemed to know what they were talking about.

"Now Citico is easy enough," Nora said. "There was an Indian city called Citico in what is now Chattanooga. One of the biggest Indian mounds in the country was there before they destroyed it at the beginning of the last century."

"That's where I heard about it." Dean said amazed again. He was beginning to understand. "We killed some kind of dragon down there and this guy gave us some crystals that he said was its scales."

Rattler sounded amused. "Gave 'em to you in doe's skin and told you they needed to be blooded sometimes?"

"Yeah." Dean was feeling encouraged. He was actually getting somewhere with all these mysteries.

"Whose blood have you been using?" Rattler asked.

"Mine and Sam's."

"Keep them," Nora said. "They can be useful. Blood calls to blood. As for the scholar, I don't know."

"Me neither," Rattler says. "How long have you and your brother been a 'hunting again and who taught you?"

"Since mom died when I was four, Sammy was just a baby. He was still on bottles when we started. Dad taught us."

"Who taught your Daddy?" Nora asked.

"Nobody. He taught himself. Who else could have taught him?" Dean was confused.

Nora and Rattler glanced at each other. Dean saw it and was beginning to worry again.

"There are plenty of other Hunters out there, son." Rattler began gently. "I'm surprised you never met any of 'em."

"You're not talking about deer, are you?"

"No," Nora said and picked up her knitting. "There are others that also travel and help folks out with evil creatures. They generally recognize each other and help each other along. Some areas don't generally need Hunters unless something really bad comes along because they have Guardians that stay in one place."

"Other hunters?" Dean was feeling dazed again. He was beginning to feel like he needed more than lavender lemonade to keep him calm. Wait, he remembered other people on a few jobs trying to talk to Dad and he had told them to fuck off. They seemed to be talking to Dad about him and Sammy. Were these guys the other Hunters they were talking about? He never saw any kids with them.

Nora nodded. "Since your little brother has the Sight, it should smooth your way. Most Hunting groups have at least one with the Sight. Just you and your brother make up a very small group. Most have three to six people, and like being a Guardian, it tends to run in families. Groups are usually made of brothers and sisters, cousins and parents and aunts and uncles. Not everyone in Hunter families goes out to Hunt, but their children often will. This gives the Hunters a family that understands and a place to rest up. It also gives them a place to retire when they get tired or hurt. There are a lot of marriages between Hunter families. Who else can understand? You and little Sammy don't have that."

Dean sensed that Nora wanted to say more, but decided against it.

"Now as for Sam. Getting him to sleep today is the best you could have done for him, but I don't approve of your methods." Nora pinned him briefly with a stern stare. "There were other things you could have done for him if you would have known."

"Like what?" Dean was confused again.

"You can put a line of salt in front of your door and a cup of it on the windows of wherever you're staying. That'll keep critters out."

Salt for nightmares?

Rattler nodded. "If he has trouble with his mind a wanderin', you can be sure he has a belly full of good red meat. He can still sense things, but they won't be a getting' to him as much. Fresh food is good, too. Help keep his mind clear."

Great, Dean thought, something else to feel guilty about. He did not think a constant diet of pizza and fast food counted as fresh food. He felt like he was taking a class in 'The Care and Feeding of Your Psychic 101.'

"I made up a batch of tea for you to give your brother afore he goes to bed. It'll help him sleep but if a critter comes a' callin' he'll wake up just fine."

"I thought tea had caffeine in it?" Dean was wondering if he was ever going to get over being confused and startled by these people.

"This is herbal tea son, chamomile and more lavender." Rattler explained. "Physical work will help 'em stay in control 'til he gets his self taught."

Nora nodded. "See if you can get him a quilt, best be in a Star of Bethlehem pattern or a Double Ring pattern to sleep under at night. Those quilts have protective patterns. Finding one for yourself would be good as well."

"Now, you should be getting back to your brother," Rattler said. "But afore you go, there is one last thing we need to talk to you about." 

Dean nodded, wondering what they were about to lay on him next.

"Since your Daddy passed, you're the head of your family now. I know brothers clash with one 'nother, but you're the eldest. Now this don't mean you should order him around 'cause it sounds like he has a good head on his shoulders. You should listen to him, but you need to be in charge. Listen to him, 'cause with the Sight he could well keep many folk's body and soul together. You're responsible for takin' care of him when he needs it."

"He's gonna love that." Dean said with a smirk.

Nora smiled. "Bring him up day after tomorrow. I'll start to work with him. I'll talk to him about it. You've more time Hunting than he does."

"We'll go out while they work. There are some things you need to learn." Rattler said, looking amused.

"Okay," was Dean's only response. He did not feel up to any more shocks today.

Rattler gave Dean a jug of tea and Nora sent him off with a plate of roast beef and fresh vegetables from her garden.

Dean was glad for the long drive down Ashe Mountain. Today had been an emotional rollercoaster. It gave him a chance to think about things before he got back to Sam.

Vera arrived at the campground. After a brief conversation with Betsy she headed down to the brothers' cabin. She knew that only Sam was there and resting, so she knocked loudly on the door. Sam heard the knocking, but he was still so dazed from the drugs. He tried to get up, but could not move. His mind told him that something was wrong, but he could not hang on to the thought long enough to know what it was.

Vera decided Sam was either sleeping hard or went with Dean after all. She grabbed some things out of her car and decided to get to work and just leave a note.

Spencer had his hands full today. Two of the five missing people had been found in Wake County and one other was found in the National Forest. All three of the bodies were found nude in caves, and like Kim Jessup, their clothes were folded neatly by their bodies and it looked like they had been posed to appear that they were masturbating. Due to most of East Tennessee being made up of limestone, there were thousands of little caves and sinkholes in the area where bodies could be hidden.

Spencer was thankful that all three of the dead people were not locals. That should keep the grapevine quiet, at first at least. Martha was off on escort duty for Kim Jessup's funeral, but he would have her out to the crime scene as soon as she finished.

Clayt Stargill had called out the FBI for the body found in the National Forest. Spencer was devoutly glad that Clayt was a local and knew how to keep his mouth shut. While he would not know the cause of death until the autopsy reports came back, Spencer knew that they were looking at a potential serial murderer. After the autopsy reports came back he would have to make a statement to let the community know and then all hell was going to break loose.

Dean felt relieved when he saw the cabin as he drove up. The door looked like it was still locked.

But the day was not through with surprises. As he got closer he saw a multi-colored bundle next to the door. He got out of the car and ran to the porch. He saw a note on the top of what looked like a quilt.

_I brought some things out for you. I hope it helps. I wasn't totally honest with you when you first came to the library. I'm sorry. Please call me!_

Vera

There were two phone numbers at the bottom of the note. Dean shook out the quilt and saw that it had a star pattern. Was this the Star of Bethlehem pattern Nora Bonesteel told him about? Then he noticed a line of salt in front of the door. What the hell? He decided that he would figure it out later. He needed to get inside and check on Sammy.

Sam was slowly waking up. He had struggled against the ropes but decided they were too tight to get out of them. It looked like he was still in the cabin by the dim light coming in through the curtains on the windows. He felt sweaty and greasy and desperately wanted a shower. His back itched and his stomach churned. Whoever had tied him up had put him on his side, so they wanted to keep him alive. Sam was relieved. He would not be surprised if he puked the way his guts were feeling.

Then Sam started waking up enough to be scared. He could not remember most of the last day. The last thing he could clearly remember was coming back from the library. How long had he been tied up? Who did it? Sam realized he had a major headache. His stomach started cramping again. He tried to hold back a wave of nausea. Then Sam did throw up, since he had little in his stomach he threw up mainly bile. He spat out as much of it as possible. Great, now he had puke under his cheek and the taste of it in his mouth.

Right when he was about to start shouting for help he heard a key in the lock. He was struck by a surge of terror and a new wave of sweat prickled his skin.

"Dean?" He asked as the door swung open. The light stabbed his eyes and he could not see anything. The door banged closed and the overhead light was turned on. Sam retched again and his gut felt like it was trying to tie itself in a knot.

"It's okay Sammy, I'm back." Sam was relieved to hear his brother's voice. He felt a wet paper towel cleaning up his face and blinked his eyes, trying to let them adjust so he could see. Then he felt Dean untie him.

"What happened? Why am I tied up?"

"We'll talk after I get you out of this and cleaned up. You've had a rough two days." Dean sounded gruff and Sam could imagine the scowl on his face even if he could not see him well. It seemed to be taking a long time to get him untied.

"I want to know what happened!" Sam was feeling more and more cranky.

"Too bad, Sammy, you're the one tied up."

"Quit calling me Sammy!"

"Too bad." Now Sam could see Dean's scowl. "After I get you out of this we're going to get you cleaned up, put on a load of laundry, get some food in you and then we'll talk."

Dean finally got all the ropes off him and unzipped him from the bag.

Sam tried to get up all at once and found himself on the floor. Dean caught him and lowered him to the ground and away from the pool of vomit. Dean handed him a bottle of water and some crackers. Then Dean began digging around to find him some clean clothes. After cleaning out his mouth Sam tried again.

"Who tied me up? What's been happening?" Sam was getting more and more pissed off with Dean not telling him anything.

"After we get you cleaned up and fed." Was all Dean said. He got together a bundle of clothes and a couple of towels. "Come on, we're going to the showers. Take it easy getting up."

Sam had an irrational urge to sit there until Dean told him something. Maybe his stink would get him to talk. Finally, he decided to go along with him for now. Sam levered himself up with the help of the bed and staggered a few steps towards the door. Dean caught his arm in a possessive grip to steady him and then pulled him along.

"Let go!" Sam snapped trying to jerk his arm out of Dean's grip.

"I'm not letting you fall on your ass again. Come on." Dean dragged him up to the showers and put him in the handicapped stall with wall bars.

"Leave the curtain open and tell me if you feeling dizzy again."

"I don't need you to baby sit me while I'm taking a shower!"

"Too bad."

Sam glared at Dean before taking his clothes off and turning on the water. He did have to admit that he was feeling much better by the time he finished. It was good to feel clean again. Dean watched him as he dried himself off and put on his clothes. He was uncomfortable with Dean watching him so closely.

Dean gathered up his dirty clothes. "Come on, do you think you can eat?"

"Yeah," Sam replied in a sulky tone. "I'm not a kid anymore. Tell me something!"

"No, you're not a kid anymore, but you need to take it easy until we get this psychic stuff figured out. You've been sick. You'll understand things better after you eat." Dean decided telling him he was sick was better that telling him he had been out of control and he almost took him to the hospital. "You feeling steadier on your feet?"

"Yes," Sam said. Dusk was falling, bringing cooler temperatures. It felt good to be outside.

Dean grabbed a plate out of the car on the way to the cabin.

"Sit down on the porch to eat this, okay? I'll go in and clean things up." Dean handed him a plate full of roast beef with carrots, potatoes and green beans. The food was good and he was particularly enjoying the roast beef. Sam noticed the quilt on the porch, grabbed it and saw the note.

"What's this? Where'd it come from?" Sam asked.

"That's part of the fun today." Sam could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "I think it's a Star of Bethlehem quilt but where it came from I'm not sure." Dean said as he came through the door with a load of laundry.

"Did you get the note off it?"

"Yeah," Sam said. "Who's Vera?"

"She works at the library." Dean snagged the quilt as he headed up to the laundry room.

Sam felt a little disgruntled. He woke up alone tied down to a bed and was obviously drugged. Dean comes back, and will not tell him anything. He is in one of his weirder moods. Today had not been fun for him at all.

Dean came back from the laundry cabin and sat down on the porch with Sam. Dean looked back over his shoulder and saw the line of salt across the door. He smiled.

"What?" Sam snapped.

"Okay Sammy, I'm going to tell you what's going on, but you have to promise not to interrupt me and not try to beat my ass until after I'm done. I've found out a lot today." Dean gave Sam a rare, unguarded smile. He was going to get his little brother back.

Sam bit his tongue at the use of his childhood nickname, and wondered why Dean was worried about him kicking his ass.


	5. Ashera

**Author:** **atanablackfox**   
(**paintercrow** starts co-authoring later in the story)

**Summary:** An outing Dean takes Sam on leads to an outing of another kind.

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 5: Ashera**:

**Summary:** An outing Dean takes Sam on leads to an outing of another kind.

**Warning:** Sex scene ahead.

"What the fuck do you mean you were the one who tied me up?" Sam bellowed loud enough for half the campground to hear. Dean was glad they were in an isolated part of the campground and it was still nearly empty. Sam had thrown his empty plate off the porch and broke it. Dean was pissed that he had broken Nora's plate; so much for Sam hearing him out before he lost it.

"What is the last thing you remember before waking up?" For once Dean was trying to stay cool.

Sam stood up; Dean noticed he was still wobbly on his feet. Good. He was strong as a friggin' bull these days but he could take him down again if he needed to.

"What does it matter?"

Dean stood up as well. "It matters because you lost it last night. You went into shock, puked, and tried running out of here like a friggin' maniac. I've spent most of the last day trying to find someone that could help you!"

"I don't remember any of that," Sam snapped. "Was that before or after you drugged me?" His voiced crackled with bitterness.

"Before. Sammy, you're sick 'cause you're a psychic, a strong one. You're out of control 'cause you didn't learn to use it when you were a kid!"

"What do you mean I'm sick?" Sam's face was a mask of fury.

"You told me stuff last night." Dean's voice had dropped to an intense near whisper as he closed in on Sam and stood almost nose to nose with him. "About being freaked because you were dreaming about having sex with men. You told me how you thought you were feeling other people's emotions. How you felt like people are watching you or laughing at you…" Dean didn't get any further because Sam shoved him and tried to turn away.

Dean was not having any of it. He grabbed Sam's arm and nailed him in the face. Sam fell face first on the rough wooden porch of the cabin. When he tried to get up Dean shoved him over on his back with his foot.

Dean knelt down and grabbed the front of his shirt with both fists and half lifted him from the porch. He stared down into Sam's eyes with no mercy.

"Shut up and listen to me or I'll nail you again." Dean snarled. "Do you think I wanted to drug you? Do you think I want to wrestle you down in the middle of the night to keep you from running out into the woods? Do you think I'm having fun when I tie you up and go talk to weird old people? Or being scared half to death by some kind of spirit giving me advice on what to do with you?"

Sam's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something. Dean shook him hard. "Don't even try it. Not a sound." Dean's voice sounded low and deadly.

"If someone had called the cops last night when you were screaming your head off they probably would have dragged you off to a psych hospital and there wouldn't have been a fucking thing I could have done about it. You're pretty damned strong right now 'cause of all the work you've been doing and I could barely control you. You're going to listen to me. I got some stuff today that can help you. You are going to shut up and do what I tell you to do until you get under control. If you don't, I'll let 'em call the cops on you next time and wait until you get out of jail or the psych hospital and then we'll try this all over again. Do you understand?"

All Sam could do is stare back at Dean with his mouth gaping open. Dean shook him.

"Do you understand Sammy?" He asked him a little more gently.

"Uh, yeah, I mean yes." Sam finally got out.

"Are you going to listen to me now?"

"Y-y-yes." Dean let him go and helped him up.

Sam stared hard at his face for a moment, noticing the bruise on his left cheek. "Shit Dean, what happened to the side of your face?" Dean looked down and half turned away from him, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You. Last night. Let's sit back down and don't make me hit you again."

An hour later, Sam was having another breakdown, but of a different type. Sam was crying while sitting on his bed, rocking back and forth.

"Why didn't he tell us? Why didn't Dad tell us about the other Hunters? We didn't have to be alone." His plaintive questions ended with a wail as he began sobbing harder.

Dean was standing over Sam at a loss of what to do. He wished Nora or Rattler had phones. Yeah, he wanted to get in touch with these other Hunters, but he had just assumed Dad had a good reason for not hooking up with them at the time. He should have realized that it would hit Sammy harder because he wanted a 'normal' life.

Shit. A revelation struck Dean. If they had hooked up with one of these families, Sammy could have had the life he wanted without having to pretend their world did not exist. He could have been with people who understood, could have trained him and kept him safe as a kid.

Sammy would not be freaking out right now because of his abilities. Dean always enjoyed hunting, he lived and breathed it. Dad, Sammy and he could have had the best of both worlds. Friends to fall back on that understood and Sammy could have gone to college without having to pretend his previous life did not exist. You did not have to go all one way or the other.

Looking at Sam's near hysterical grief, Dean questioned his father's decisions for the first time in his life.

Dean sat down and pulled Sammy into his arms. "I know you're upset, but you've got to calm down. Don't cry yourself sick. We know about them now and we'll go find them after we get you fixed up. We'll try to find one you like so you can settle down if you want to and I'll have people to Hunt with. You won't have to lie or pretend Hunting doesn't exist and we can still do stuff together."

This only made Sam cry harder, and Dean could make out a few broken words like 'could have' 'wanted' and 'why'. Shit, what was he going to do with him? Nora Bonesteel did not want him drugged with those leftover painkillers.

Dean remembered earlier when he had pressed his forehead to Sammy's and it was like he could feel his emotions. That seemed like years ago. He was feeling other people's emotions. Could he use that to calm him down?

Dean gripped his brother's head with both hands and pressed his forehead to Sammy's. Once again, he could feel his grief. It was very far off, very faint, but it was still there. Dean tried pushing calm thoughts into Sam's mind. Almost immediately he began calming down, so fast it was scary. No wonder Nora and Rattler wanted him kept away from people until she had a chance to see him.

After Sam stopped crying Dean got up and tossed a roll of paper towels onto the bed to clean up his face. Touchy feely time was over.

"Okay Sammy. Here's the plan. We go watch some TV in the lobby, after a while you drink some of this stuff Rattler gave me, and you go to sleep. We get up tomorrow and you work your ass off all day until you're ready to drop. Then we do the same thing the next day, but we go see Nora Bonesteel and Rattler in the afternoon, and you're not arguing with me over it." Dean was much more comfortable giving orders than being a shoulder to cry on.

Sam took a few deep breaths. "Does the cabin feel different to you?" He asked tentatively. Dean started to scowl and stopped. He needed to let him talk about this stuff or he would close up again like he did before. Then he remembered the note and the other things he found when he came back.

"I noticed some stuff outside; tell me what you're feeling. It could be important." Rattler said to listen to and encourage him. He and Nora had been right about everything so far.

"It just feels... I dunno, cleaner somehow, and safer, like bad stuff can't get in."

Dean nodded and put his hands in his pockets. "I think Vera from the library came up here and did some stuff to the cabin. That line of salt across the door is supposed to keep the nasties out. I'll call her tomorrow and find out what's up with her." Sammy seemed relieved. Good. That should keep him from thinking he was going crazy.

Sam did not bitch too much about the tea or going to sleep, much to Dean's relief. He was kind of glad that Sam was being cranky. It was better than him bawling his eyes out or sleepwalking. After Sam settled down for the night, Dean sat on his bed, back against the wall with the shotgun across his lap and turned on the small electric lantern they had bought. All the stuff he got from Rattler, Nora and Vera made sense and they all seemed to be saying the same thing, but he needed to be sure. He let himself settle into a light doze and hoped that it would be a quiet night.

Sam arched his back as he felt a soft hand rub down his spine, stopping to caress his ass. Hungry lips latched onto one of his nipples and flicked his tongue over it, and then gave the other nipple the same treatment. He felt himself being pushed over on his back while his lover straddled his hips, rubbing his cock against Sam's.

Sam reached up and pulled his lover down for a deep and passionate kiss. Sam broke the kiss to nibble down his lover's collarbone. This time the man in his dream was dark haired. Sam pushed the brunet over on his back, wanting to be more aggressive than in his last dream. His lover allowed him to do so with a delighted little laugh.

Sam ran his hands over his lover's chest and down his legs then back up to his groin, enjoying the fact that the brunet was willingly turning his body over to him to explore. Sam stroked the other man's cock and massaged his balls, doing so gently out of fear of hurting him or being rejected.

"It's okay Sam, you're not hurting me," his lover whispered. Sam began licking his cock, exploring it with his tongue, letting it dance over bulging veins.

"Oh, fuck, yeah," his lover moaned, reaching down to rub the top of Sam's head, encouraging him to continue. With this reassurance, Sam gingerly started sucking the head of his cock. The brunet thrust slowly into his mouth a few times, giving him time to adjust. Sam began to start sucking harder and stroking his lover's balls. Almost immediately the brunet came, spurting his seed into Sam's hungry mouth. He pulled Sam up to lay beside him. Sam's cock was hard and needy, leaking precum on his belly. The brunet pulled him close and stroked his cock.

"What do you want?" He asked Sam, still rubbing his cock and stroking his back in encouragement.

"I, I want to try anal," Sam whispered, still fearing rejection.

He kissed Sam gently on the lips before getting up and positioning himself on his hands and knees, giving him easy access to his ass. Sam nervously positioned himself to penetrate the ass in front of him. He stroked the globes in front of him gently before pulling them apart. He was already lubed. Sam put the head of his cock at his entrance and slowly began to push in, his lover murmuring encouragement to him. Sam pushed all the way in and felt the brunet's hot, tight ass envelope his straining cock, and far too soon Sam felt himself having an explosive orgasm.

Dean woke up immediately when he heard Sam moving around in his bed and whimpering. He turned the little electric lantern up on high to see him clearly. About that time Sam moaned softly and writhed sensually. Dean smirked and leaned back against the wall. He didn not know if he was grossed out watching his brother have a wet dream or ready to laugh his ass off. Either way, he did not look like he was having a nightmare, so he stifled his snickers so he would not wake him up. After about three minutes, Sammy gasped and opened his eyes.

"Was it good for you?" Dean snarked. He knew he should not be making fun of him, but this was just too good to pass up. He could not keep the smirk off his face. Sammy groaned and covered his beet red face with his hands.

"Are you ever going to let this one go?"

"Nope. Now that you've had your fun, clean up and go back to sleep." Even if he was going to give him a hard time about the dream, he was glad he told Sammy that he did not care if he was into guys.

Ashera sat cross-legged on her back porch. The moon was waxing and would be full in a few nights. She had cast a Circle, once more needing the advice and assistance of the Gods. She had chosen the Chinese _I Ching_, or the _Book of Changes_ as the oracle she would use. The _I Ching_ was one of the most complex forms of divination she knew, and included advice and commentaries on how the future may change if certain actions are taken. She had two books on this oracle with her in the Circle since it took a lifetime to learn all the subtleties. Ashera began casting the coins and carefully began building the hexagram.

She bit her lip and began sweating. There were four shifting lines out of six. The situation was very fluid. The base hexagram was hexagram 3. One translation was "Difficult Beginnings" while the other was just "Beginnings." Clouds over Thunder. Birth of new beginnings, a single misstep can mean disaster according to one translation. Beginnings, and "movement in the midst of danger" according to another.

Wonderful. Ashera had certainly made a major misstep in the beginning. She looked to see what the second hexagram was. It was hexagram 30, "The Clinging" in one translation, "Brightness" in the other. Fire over Fire. When two things approach one another to accomplish far more than they could alone. Co-operating with and dependence on one another. "During times of darkness and danger people should cling to one another. When they do, things become brighter."

Clouds and Thunder, Fire joining Fire. Ashera shuddered, suddenly cold. The situation could be salvaged, but at what cost?

She was beginning to see the gathering storm that Nora Bonesteel had been aware of for over a month.

Much to Dean's relief, Sammy had a quiet night and slept well after waking up that one time. In the morning he was quiet, but Dean put that down to him having a lot to think about. They ate breakfast in the cabin since Mrs. Rice was taking her husband to Johnson City for a doctor's appointment.

Sam went off to put the last of the mulch down on the trails before starting to open up the cabins to see what repairs they might need. Dean was to watch the office until Betsy got back.

As Dean was coming back from the showers he stopped dead in his tracks. On either side of the porch were small piles of stones that he knew were not there when he left for Nora's the day before. Was this something else that Vera had done? After dropping off his clothes in the cabin he came back outside to take a closer look at them. While looking at one of the piles, he saw a glimpse of pink under the porch. As he moved the dirt and old leaves away he found a five inch tall rose quartz crystal. He was careful not to touch it or the cairn of rocks. What the hell?

He slowly walked around the cabin. Scratched out in the dirt or laid out in small, ordinary stones he found a whole series of symbols. Some were Norse runes, others were Kabalistic symbols and he found a pentacle behind the cabin where it could not be seen from the front. 

Some symbols he had no idea what they were. There were other stones. He found amethyst, a large silvery rock, several ordinary quartz crystals, a yellow crystal, and small octagonal muddy-red stone as well as a polished, reddish lump of rock. The quartz crystals were all at least four inches high. All of the symbols and stones had been carefully concealed by leaves or brush so you could not see them easily. It was almost like there was some sort of magical camouflage on them that made them hard to see. Dean was careful not to touch any of them.

Did Vera do all of this? If she did, who was she really? Not a timid little librarian, that was for sure. All of these stones must have cost hundreds of dollars. And what about the quilt? It looked hand made, did she make it herself? If she were some type of magician or witch, he did not blame her for keeping a low profile. They might understand about ghosts and psychics up here, but a full blown magician of some type? He dashed back inside to grab his father's journal before heading up to the lobby. This was another mystery to solve. Dean was getting rather sick of them. He missed the good old days when you just blew the shit out of something and then burned it to a crisp.

While he was watching the desk in the office Dean looked through Dad's journal trying to figure out what some of the symbols were. A few more he identified, some of them were used by a ceremonial magical group called The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. A few of them were similar to Freemason symbols, but not exactly. He identified the Eye of Horus as well. He took out the lap top and started trying to find some of the others.

Dean was amazed. Some of the symbols were ancient Egyptian, others were ancient Sumerian. One was the Knot of Isis and another was the eight pointed star of the Sumerian goddess Inanna. Some were Native American symbols of Southeastern tribes, and a few were from a group called the Fellowship of Inner Light that was started by a woman called Dion Fortune. A few were Chinese symbols from something called the I Ching. All of them were either protection or healing symbols.

Then he started looking up the stones, both to identify those he did not know and to check on their mystical uses. The small octagonal red stone was a raw ruby! Another was a gigantic citrine crystal. The silvery stone was something called hematite, which had "grounding" properties to help psychics from getting overloaded. All of them had strong protective and healing properties.

Shit. If Vera did all of this, what was she? She had made the cabin into a fucking psychic Fort Knox. Between what she did and the advice from Nora and Rattler no wonder Sam was acting better. How had she learned it all? She had used at least 10 different types of symbols, most of which were not in Dad's journal, and it took him almost four hours to research the others. He still did not know what some of them were.

Dean always thought Dad knew everything about Hunting, all the tricks and symbols, all the weapons and techniques. He slammed the journal shut.

How much did Dad really know? Sammy was fucked up, and it was probably because Dad would not have anything to do with other Hunters. As much as he did not want to admit it, he was sure some of the people that sought Dad out on jobs were other Hunters. Maybe they knew Sammy was psychic and that was what they were talking to him about. Nora said that most hunting groups had at least one psychic. Could they sense one another? He had met three people in the last two months that seemed to know more than Dad did.

Had they been just blundering through jobs? Were there things they could have learned to make it easier for them? Would Dad still be alive if he had made contact with other Hunters?

Then a thought struck Dean over the head. What if Sammy stopped hunting not because he was selfish or did not want to get what killed Mom, but because these monsters were slowly causing him to lose it? And Dad refused help for him, either because he thought he did not need it or because he did not know?

After Betsy got back he was going to call Vera and ask her to meet with him and Sammy. He was going to start getting some answers out of her.

Sam dumped another wheel barrel load of mulch on the trail and began to smooth it out with the rake. He was glad for the work, it gave him something to do while he thought. Dean called him about every half hour to check on him. He did have to admit that he felt better today than he had in weeks. More rested and in control. Before he felt mentally exhausted and pieces of him were scattered all over.

Dean certainly had plenty of bombshells to drop last night. Sam had felt his whole life rearrange.

Now that he knew that there were other Hunters and Hunter families, Sam was not sure if he wanted to meet any of them, at least not right away. He did not want to see what could have been.

After Betsy got back to the office, Dean went to the cabin to have a private place to call Vera. The first number he called rang unanswered. He got a shock when he called the second.

"Thank you for calling the Wake County Library. This is the line of Dr. Vera Kesterson, Director of the Library and Curator of the library's special collections. I am either away from my desk or on another call. Please leave a message or press zero for immediate assistance."

Dean quickly pressed zero.

"Thank you for calling the Wake County Library's Circulation Desk, Pamela speaking. How can I help you?"

"I'm calling for Dr. Kesterson."

"I'm sorry; she just stepped out for lunch. Is this Dr. Mallory?"

"Yes," Dean replied. He wanted to get some more information on "Dr. Kesterson."

"She said she's sorry, but she's not going to be able to make the deadline for her article on the conservation of Wake County's pre-Civil War documents because of a family emergency. She says that she should have it done for the next journal. She'll call you either later today or tomorrow."

Dean thanked her and hung up. Is she the scholar that Ravenmocker was talking about? She had let them spend days in the library doing work on what looks like a dead end case while Sammy was losing it under her nose? Could she have been helping them all along and had been just playing with them?

Screw calling her back. Dean was going to have a heart to heart with her. Today.

Nora Bonesteel sat on her porch, a worn Bible in her hands. The young ones were beginning to come together, but their first meeting would be violent and blood would be spilled. Blood calls to blood, and the blood would be the first step in healing the breach that had already came up between them and washing away the rage and anger.

Another trouble was on her mind. The leader of the new Guardians did not follow the faith of these mountains. She had the ability to be a good Guardian if she would just admit it and accept her responsibilities, but would the community accept her?

"Good Lord," Nora murmured, "give me a sign to guide their way."

Bible cracking had never failed her when she was unsure of the Good Lord's intent. She opened her Bible and looked at the first verse she saw on the page.

It was Matthew 12:25.

"A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth evil things."

Sam shifted restlessly in the car.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to go back in to town until I saw Nora."

Dean's knuckles tightened on the steering wheel.

"How are you holding up?"

"I don't like it, but it's not too bad. Now I know why I feel this way, I'm not freaking. That seemed to make it worse. Why do we have to see this librarian today? Why can't it wait?"

"I'm making a point."

"Why are you so pissed at me? I've done everything you've asked."

Dean drove in silence for a few more moments until he found a place to pull off the road. He undid his seat belt so he could turn around and look directly Sam.

"Why do you think I'm pissed with you?" Dean said this very carefully, Sammy had been doing much better today and he did not want anything to drive him back over the edge.

"I can feel it. Now you say you're taking me to town to prove a point."

"I'm mad, but not at you. I'm pissed at Vera because she's been jerking us around for a while now. I think she knew you were having problems and didn't do anything. Now she regrets it and I'm going to make the bitch guilty as hell so she'll get off her ass and help you. She did a lot of things to the cabin, but it was almost too little too late. I want her to see what her string pulling bullshit has done to you."

Sam looked confused. "What about Nora Bonesteel?"

"I know she can help you, she already has, but Ravenmocker told me we need Vera for some reason. Nora lives on a mountain top by herself and only comes into town a few times a week. I think Nora can only teach you so much but you have to get the rest from Vera." Dean quickly told Sam about the layers of protective and healing symbols he found around the cabin and the crystals.

Sam's eyes widened. "Shit, what is she? Some type of female Merlin?"

"Little bro, that's what we're going to find out."

Sam knew the type of mood his brother was in. He almost felt sorry for Vera.

LeDonne was on patrol when he saw the '67 Chevy Impala. He decided to follow the car. Most of the rest of Wake County might think the brothers were harmless, but he was not so sure.

Vera was at the circulation desk when Sam and Dean walked in. Before Dean could say anything she told them to follow her to her office. Once inside she closed the door and drew the blinds for privacy.

As soon as they crossed the threshold of her office, Sam immediately felt the psychic pressure lift off of him. Except for Dean, all of the other people's emotions he had been feeling were gone.

After she drew the blinds, her appearance changed slightly. She was still the same person, but her hair darkened slightly, her eyes were a lighter green, her cheekbones became higher, she appeared about 10 years younger and 15 pounds lighter. Her skin became much tanner, as opposed to the almost pasty look she had before. She was taller as well. Dean was surprised to see that she was a little taller than he was.

After seeing her change, Sam had to touch her cheek to see if the texture of her skin had really changed, to reassure himself of what he had just seen. He looked into her eyes and she smiled kindly at him.

Dean was at a loss for words. Sam reached out and touched her cheek, as if confirming what he was seeing. The innocence of Sam's gesture almost broke Vera's heart and made tears come to her eyes. What a fool she had been.

"Please, sit down," she asked the two of them. "I'm afraid I have an apology to make and some explanations are in order as well." Her voice carried almost none of the mountain accent she had spoken with earlier. There were still traces of it there, but barely. She motioned them to take two chairs in front of her desk.

Sam looked around as he was seated. The walls were a cheerful mint green with framed prints of places like Stonehenge and Greek temples on the walls along with a few diplomas. There was a small fridge in a corner behind her desk. Her desk had several silver framed photos placed around the edges.

Sam could almost see something else out of the corners of his eyes, but as soon as he looked it was gone. They seemed to be some sort of symbols floating just off the walls and small creatures moving around the office. They did not scare him but he was intensely curious about them. He was almost about to get up to try to touch them as well when he heard Dean's voice.

"Start talking. What the hell are you?" Sam's attention snapped back to the confrontation playing out in front of him.

Vera raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, what am I?"

"You know what I mean."

"No." Vera said calmly, "I am afraid I do not." Vera knew that she appeared to be baiting Dean, but she had to be sure that he understood. She knew that this was a confrontation, not a discussion. She had neglected the situation for far too long. Dean needed an excuse to vent his anger and rage at her before they could progress any further. Besides, she had her own bone to pick with them that would be out before this was all said and done.

"We know that you're some kind of psychic, witch, magician or something. You've let us sit here in the library doing work for you while Sammy was losing it, then you show up and do all this weird magical stuff to the cabin. What the hell are you??!!" Dean was almost yelling the last sentence.

"Ok, I am an eclectic Neo-Pagan high priestess whose main inspiration comes from the syncratic faiths of Late Antiquity. I practice a combination of theurgy, ceremonial magic, folk magic, Hermeticism, Neo-Platonic magical philosophy and Appalachian granny magic. Does that answer your question?"

Dean scowled at her for a moment, but it was apparent that this did not intimidate her.

"You knew. You knew all along that Sammy needed help and you didn't do anything." Dean's voice had dropped, but it throbbed with rage.

Vera sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. "I wasn't sure. I should have realized that there is no such thing as a free lunch." She opened her eyes again. "I thought you were someone else when you first came, then I was angry with you for my own reasons. By the time I realized that you were also the Hunters I had called for, I knew that your brother desperately needed training. I was afraid if I came to you directly you would leave town before Sam got what he needed."

"Cut all the bullshit," Dean growled. "I am tired of everybody talking in circles. Tell me what is going on."

Vera could see the tension in almost every line of Dean's body. She steeled herself for what she knew could be coming at any moment.

Sam was startled. He could tell that Dean was about to attack this woman at any time. He could feel Dean's rage and fear for him radiating out of his brother like a painful heat. He almost moved his chair away from him to get away from it.

Sam grabbed Dean's wrist. "Calm down!" He pleaded. Dean did not need to get thrown in jail on an assault charge. Besides, who knew what this woman, or creature, or whatever she was, could do to him. This just seemed to piss off Dean more. He jerked his arm from Sam's grasp and stood up. Vera stood up as well. Sam was glad that at least her desk was between the two of them.

"Fine!" She let her own anger flare. "Something evil is killing people up here. I can't take it by myself! The rest of my coven is gone and can't run home right now, and even if they did I'm still not sure we could handle it! I put a psychic call out for help. I was hoping to get a Hunter group up here to help me. I know they exist, but not how to contact any of them! They're so secretive! There doesn't seem to be an active Guardian up here as far as I can tell! I've lived here for less than a year and can't get much information from the sheriff's department! Then you two show up. You're the same guys that got my nephew expelled from college! I've pulled strings all across the state to keep him out of jail and now I am trying to find another university to take him! Sam was obviously a psychic and heard my call, but I didn't think you were up to what is going on here so I tried to keep you both safe and out of harm's way! I know Sam needs training, but I had my hands full trying to figure out what the hell these things are! By the time I realized how bad Sam was, I didn't think you would believe me! I train people all the time but I had too much going on all at once!"

Her voice rose throughout this entire tirade, but unlike with Dean, San did not feel any of her emotions. That scared him worse than feeling Dean's. Sam realized how long he had been feeling other people. Vera just did not seem to be there, it was like she was not real.

"But you knew!" Dean raged. "You still knew! I almost took Sammy to a psych hospital and who knows how bad that could have fucked him up!"

Vera almost sneered. "What? Do you think I have the time to run an orphanage for wayward psychics as well?"

This pushed Dean over the edge. Vera did not get the chance to say another word. Mom was dead. Dad was dead. He was an orphan before he was thirty. He had almost lost his little brother as well because this woman did not help Sammy when she knew he desperately needed it. He snatched up one of the framed photos on her desk and threw it as hard as he could at her.

Vera dodged it, but only barely. The frame hit the wall behind her and the glass shattered. She had turned to avoid it, and now glass shards were flying back at her. She raised her hand to shield her face.

The room went silent except for the tinkling of glass. Vera lowered her hands.

The door burst open and revealed a very aggressive Deputy LeDonne. He scowled at the tableau in front of him. The two transients were here in Dr. Kesterson's office. He could not think of a more unlikely conversation.

"Are you alright Vera? I heard shouting and something hitting the wall." LeDonne was glaring at Sam and Dean. Sam knew that this guy was just looking for an excuse to come after them. She could have them arrested right this second and he was sure they would not get bail, even with the Rice's help.

"No, no, I'm fine LeDonne, thanks for asking," she managed to smile. "These are some friends of Jay's. We were just having a," she paused, "spirited conversation."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, we just need to finish up and then they'll be leaving for the day."

LeDonne glared at then one last time before closing the door quietly behind him.

"Crap, I'm sorry," Dean began, appalled at what had almost happened and grateful that she did not have them thrown in jail. The frame was heavier than he thought and could have done serious damage to her if she had not ducked fast enough.

Vera acted as if she had not heard him and picked up the broken frame. She stopped as she turned back to the desk, never taking her eyes off the photo. Dean noticed that she was bleeding from a small but deep cut on her forehead. The blood was trickling down into her eyebrow.

Sam felt a feeling of grief and loss crashing over him like a tidal wave. He almost fell out of his chair.

"Dean!" he gasped. As soon as he said his name, Dean could feel an echo of Sammy's panic.

Just as suddenly as it began, it ended. Vera looked at Sam.

"I'm sorry for that," was all she said. Sam realized that he had felt her emotions for a moment. Sam and Dean both noticed that the palm of her left hand was slashed and bleeding profusely over the frame and dripping onto the desk.

"You're bleeding. We need to get you to a hospital. You need stitches," Dean said quietly. 

She waved her uninjured hand at him in denial and then laid the badly dented and blood-stained photo and frame face down on her desk.

She gave him a strange, distant smile.

"I'll heal. Could you run to the bathroom and bring back some paper towels? I need to clean up. I have a first aid kit in my desk. I'd rather the staff didn't know I was just assaulted in my office."

Dean nodded and slipped out of the office. Sam came around the desk and carefully swept shards of glass out of her chair.

"Here, sit down," Sam said quietly. "Let me check to see if you have any glass in your hair or any more cuts."

She opened a desk drawer and pulled out a large first aid kit and told him there was water in the fridge.

Sam found several more small cuts and a few pieces of glass in her hair and scalp. He was pulling out the first aid kit's tweezers as Dean came back in with most of the paper towels from the men's restroom. The room was silent except for an occasional question for several moments as the brothers cleaned and bandaged her cuts. Dean looked closely at the gash in her left palm as he cleaned it. He was surprised to see her hands were heavily calloused. It looked like she did a lot of manual labor. The calluses were probably the only thing that stopped any really serious damage to her hand.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" He asked anxiously. Vera flexed her hand and made a fist.

"Everything seems to be in good working order. It will heal." She took a closer look at the cut. Her heart line had always been deep but short. The gash began near the end of her heart line but branched out almost across her palm. When it healed she would have another deep heart line, indicating a second deep and long lasting romantic relationship. Vera laughed bitterly as she glanced at the back of the broken frame on her desk.

Dean looked at Sammy but he did not seem to notice. He was pulling a large piece of glass from her hair. Were all psychics a little crazy?

"Yes," Vera said, "we are. That's why we either withdraw or need other people to help keep us grounded."

"How did you know..." Dean began.

"It wasn't hard to tell what you were thinking by the look on your face, but I also got a hint of what you were thinking because you are touching me."

Dean hesitated. "I can feel when Sammy is upset sometimes or is having problems now. Am I psychic too?"

Sam finally looked at him.

"Yes," Vera said, still in the same subdued voice she had been speaking with since he had thrown the photo. "Just a little, just barely. Probably all you ever will be able to do is feel Sam. You need to do some training with him so you can use it. You're brothers. Blood calls to blood."

Dean was amazed. "That's what Nora Bonesteel said."

"Nora Bonesteel is wise, far wiser than I am." Vera said softly.

"We're going to see Nora tomorrow afternoon. Come with us. You know you need to," Sam said firmly.

Dean was amazed. It sounded like he was giving her an order. She was about 15 years older than him and obviously a powerful woman, both in the local community and psychically. Dean had the sudden feeling that she was afraid for some reason. She and Sam were looking at each other. There was no challenge or fight for dominance in their gaze. It was more like they were trying to see who the other one really was.

"Yes," she said. "I've needed to for a couple of weeks now. But I'm driving. Meet me here at one."

The two translations of the _I Ching_ I used are:

Huang, Alfred. _The Complete I Ching._ Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT,  
1998.

Wing, R. L. _The I Ching Workbook_. Broadway Books, New York, 2001.


	6. Blood Calls to Blood

**Author:** **atanablackfox**   
(**paintercrow** starts co-authoring later in the story)

**Summary:** Family ties mean more then even Sam and Dean realized.

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 6: Blood Calls to Blood**

**Summary:** Family ties mean more then even Sam and Dean realized.

"Do you think anything strange happened back there?" Sam asked as they were driving back to the KOA.

"Dude! What part of that wasn't strange! I've said from the beginning that we've fallen through a black hole and into the friggin' Twilight Zone! Jay is her nephew! Shit!" Dean was agitated enough not to turn on the radio, much to Sam's relief. No mullet rock.

"I mean when we walked into her office."

"Sammy, the entire time we were in her office it was strange. It was like we fell out of the space time continuum and into another dimension. I'm not sure that she's even human."

"It's Sam. And yes, she's human, and she's scared shitless."

"How do you know?"

"Because when I was picking glass out of her hair and touching her I could feel what she was feeling."

"Can you tell why?"

"No, it's not like I can read her mind, I can just feel what she's feeling. What I was saying is that didn't her office feel strange? Kind of like it was sound proofed or muffled or something. I kept seeing things in there, too. Symbols and little animals, they looked like 'Day-Glo', but I could only see them out of the corner of my eye. I wished that I could have stayed longer to look at them. Some of the symbols looked like the ones she put around the cabin. I want to take a look at them when we get back. She also did this thing where she kind of wrapped herself into some kind of blanket to keep from feeling other people and to keep other people from feeling her." Sam seemed very thoughtful, but he had a brighter expression on his face.

"Sammy, what about all this other shit? What the hell is an eclect neo-whatever anyways? Why didn't she let Roscoe back there arrest us? Why wouldn't she go to the hospital? If her hand gets infected, she might not be able to use it."

Sam smacked him on the back of the head.

"It's Sam. Vera might be scared, but she knows a lot. I think she was telling us the truth."

Dean glanced at his brother as he drove. Sammy was acting more like himself than he had in weeks, but there was an added dimension, like there was a deepening of his character. Dean began to worry that he might be losing his brother in another way. Would he be sucked into some weird world of psychics that he could never understand?

After Sam and Dean had left, Vera sat back down at her desk and put her face in her hands, feeling the rough bandages across her palm against her cheek. Her body shook with silent sobs, but no tears came.

Jay, her only brother's only child, had been expelled from college because he had helped these two brothers steal Cherokee artifacts from the UTC archaeology lab. There were other ways that they could have gotten to those artifacts that would not have implicated Jay. She knew. She had been anthropology major at that school when she was an undergraduate. Why hadn't Jay called her? Vera knew the answer; he wanted his Aunt Vera to be proud of him.

Their psychic abilities were a secret between them since he was a child. Lisa, Jay's mother and Vera's sister-in-law, was a born-again Christian that detested Vera as a 'satan-worshiper.' She was the only one he confided in that he was bisexual. Vera did not have children and never would. Jay was one of the most precious people in the world to her. She had managed to keep him out of jail thanks to the fact that she was an alumnus, but what about the rest of his future?

Her coven mates were gone and she missed them terribly. The pleasure trips they had taken had turned into family emergencies. She was physically tired from trying to keep up with all the farm work on her own. There were demons roaming the area that she did not know how to stop. The Hunters that had responded to her call were only half-trained at best and she had to do emergency training with the strongest psychic she had ever seen before he went insane or hurt someone.

Sam was strong enough to get through her shields just by touching her. Now she was going to have to 'out' herself as a Pagan and magician to one of the most respected Christian Seers alive and face the fall out.

And every Goddess-be-damned personal tarot reading she had done for the past three months had the Wheel of Fortune card pop up. The card of fate, and something that could not be changed. Karma. But the general reading she had been doing all indicated a time of extreme danger and mutual dependence on others. The signs from the oracles seemed to be contradictory, something was fated for her, but the situation around her was fluid and dangerous. She was in more danger she had ever been in her life.

Vera took a deep breath. She was a priestess of the Old Gods and honor bound to do whatever it took to both help Sam and to destroy the creature that was killing in her backyard. No matter how high the personal cost.

The rest of Sam and Dean's day was quiet. Sam poked around the outside of the cabin and seemed to have a good time doing it. He made complex sketches of all the symbols and found a few that Dean had missed. It was like seeing Vera had been a major revelation for him. It had given him hope and now he was playing with his abilities like a kid with a new toy. He was enthusiastic about their trip to see Nora the next day.

Dean hung back and watched. One part of him was glad that Sammy was feeling better and another part of him was filled with a hollow ache. Everyone had left him, he really had no friends or close relationships with anyone other than Sammy, and he might lose him as well. Dad had died just a few months before but he had put off his own grieving, first for revenge and now because Sammy was sick. Now they knew about Hunt families and he was sure Sammy would settle with one of them eventually.

As they got ready for bed that evening Sam began to feel Dean's rather complex emotions. He frowned. He could feel emotions but not the thoughts nor the reasons behind them. Sam reached out and took Dean's arm. Dean could feel Sam's concern for him. It irritated him, he did not want his pity.

"What is it Sammy?"

"I know you're upset. I can feel it. It hurts me too."

"Shit, can't I have a private thought? What's next, a Jamaican accent?"

"No, not right now, not until I get trained. And even then, maybe never," Sam gave him an odd smile. "Blood calls to blood."

Dean realized that Sam was uncertain of the future, too. He was also afraid things would change too much between them. Was that why Sam was touching his arm? To let him feel his emotions?

Dean let lose a tirade on how unfair the situation was. About Dad leaving and then dying. About how lonely he was on the road. How it was unfair that he stayed with Dad and did not have a life outside of hunting. How Sam had got to go off to college and party. How he had spent so much of his life caring for him, back from the very day Mom died. Throughout it all, Sam never let go of his grip on Dean's arm and Dean did not try to pull away. Sam was angry about some of the things he said, but let them pass. Right now he needed Dean and knew he had to let him talk.

When Dean was through and gasping from purging himself of long suppressed emotions, Sammy let go of Dean's arm. Sam pulled Dean into bed with him, checking to be sure a roll of paper towels was on the small bed side table between the two beds. He had spent so much time crying over the past several days Dean kept them close by in case he had another crying fit. He was pretty sure Dean would need them next.

There was nothing sexual about the two of them curling up together on one bed. They had shared a bed on and off ever since Sam could remember. But, it had been over 10 years now. It was more about closeness and the natural need of all humans to touch and be touched. It was also about letting Dean feel Sam the same way Sam could feel Dean. Sam did not want Dean to feel left out or not be able to understand what he was experiencing. It was also about sharing grief and pain, fears and hopes of the future.

Before long they were both crying, but it was a release, not a trauma. It did not quiet all of their fears nor remove their grief, but neither of them felt as stressed as they had before. After they had both calmed down Dean stood up to move to his own bed. Sam reached out and took his arm in a loose grip.

"Dean, you can touch me any time you need to. I don't want this to come between us. There is too much going on. We have to stay together."

"Even when you're feeling not so fresh?"

Sam rolled his eyes and threw his pillow at him.

"Jerk!"

Deputy LeDonne was not happy about the two drifters. He decided to spend some of his own time checking up on them. He had lived in Wake County for about 12 years now, but he loved this small town as much as he had been born here. He had been estranged from his family for years now, but Wake County had made him welcome.

He had been hiking the Appalachian Trail after finishing up an eight year stint in the army as an MP. He stopped off at the Rice's KOA and stayed in Wake County. Spencer had given him a job as a cop. He might be 'new', but he respected the 'old' community.

LeDonne was usually dispatched on calls when there were problems between the old families, no one could accuse him of favoring one over the other due to centuries long conflicts. He admired and respected Dr. Kesterson, and would not let anything happen to her.

Both the brothers and Vera got to the library about an hour early the next day. Dean and Sam got quite a shock. They did not know what type of car she drove, but they did not expect it to be a 1999 Ford F-250 Crew Cab.

"What are you two doing here early?" Vera asked as she got out of the truck. She still looked the way she had in her office the day before. Today she was dressed in work boots, shorts and a tank top. She might be older than them, but Dean still had to admire her appearance. She had the muscle definition that came from actually doing hard manual labor, not working out in the gym.

"Sammy here is acting like a kid on a sugar high to get up to see Nora. I finally got tired of him so we came down to see if you're ready to go yet."

Vera approached them so she could talk a bit more privately. Sam slapped him on the back of the head again.

"It's Sam!"

"Sam, quit hitting your brother and get into my office and stay there until we're ready to leave. I have a few things to do before we go. Nice attempt at shielding, but don't think you have it down just because you've seen me do it."

Before Sam could say anything, Dean's natural defensiveness of his brother popped up.

"Who gave you the authority to start giving orders?"

Sam rolled his eyes. Shit, were they ever going to stop fighting?

"When Sam became my responsibility to train. Both of you get used to it. Sam could become a burned out, blithering idiot. Right now you two are more of a burden than an asset. I'd appreciate it if y'all gave me as little hassle as possible until we get whatever is out there." She started to turn away, but then turned back and looked Dean square in the eye.

"Oh, and Dean, just one thing. If you ever try to hurt me again, I'll have your balls to hang off my rear view mirror."

"Thanks for the warning Loreena."

Vera glared at him but walked off.

Dean gritted his teeth on all the other things he wanted to say. As much as he did not want to admit it, she had the upper hand. For now.

Once they got in her office, Dean closed the blinds and began going through her desk.

"Dean, what are you doing? She could walk in any second!"

"Keep a look out for her. Think of it as practice. You can feel her, right?"

"No Dean, I can't! Most of the time it's like she's not there!"

"We know almost nothing about her. I'll be through in just a few seconds."

"I told you I trust her!"

"Sammy, how do you know that she didn't do something to make you trust her? You're new to all this. I'm not going to trust her until Nora says so."

"What about what Ravenmocker told you?"

"For all I know she sent him."

They found a recent photo of Jay on her desk along with a few others, but there was nothing but work-related papers in her desk.

Sam kept giving Dean dirty looks but spent the rest of the time trying to see and touch the symbols he could almost sense.

When Vera walked in, she looked both annoyed and amused. She shut the door behind her.

"Lesson number one. When dealing with people who use any type of magic, we can tell when our wards, or magical alarms, have been tampered with. Some can have magical or psychic traps. Sam will learn how to do this later on. By the way, did you find anything that interested you in my desk?"

Sam turned red. "Sorry," he said.

"Don't be. Except not knowing about the wards, going through my desk was a good idea. You really don't know me. As Hunters, you have to be careful to stay alive. Just because someone looks human that doesn't mean they are, but you already know that."

Dean frowned. This woman annoyed the hell out of him. Then she did something else unexpected. She gave him the keys to her truck.

"I thought you said you were driving?" Dean asked. He went through her desk and she is not pissed, and now she was giving him her keys. Were these people ever going to stop confusing him?

"I was, but my hand is killing me. You can drive my truck. There is no way in hell I'm rattling around like a pea in a pod in the back of your Impala for 10 miles up a dirt road."

The mood in the truck was one of overall annoyance. Vera insisted on riding shotgun, so they had to put up with Sam bitching about the back seat. Vera seemed totally unconcerned by this. She had put on sunglasses from the time they got into the truck and leaned back in her seat.

Dean strongly suspected that she had fallen asleep. Sam reached over the back seat to touch Vera.

"Don't touch me," Vera said flatly.

"But it's the only way I can feel you!"

"Yes, it's called privacy. I'm going to have to teach you psychic etiquette before we do anything else."

"What, there's a Miss Manners for psychics?" Sam laughed.

"Yes, there is. Now stop it." Vera seemed to settle back into a light doze. The truck was quiet for a few moments before Vera turned in her seat and smacked Sam's hand. "I said stop touching me!"

"I wasn't touching you. I was just feeling that blanket thing you have around you," Sam said innocently.

"That's my aura and shields. That's the same as touching me."

Dean glanced at them. Vera looked furious and Sam was trying not to laugh. He could tell he was not through annoying her.

"I was just trying to see what I can do!" Sam protested. He sounded like a whiney kid. Dean rolled his eyes.

"Well, don't! You can hurt people," she snapped and turned around in her seat. 

"Would you two freaks shut up?" Dean was tired of both of them.

"Jerk," Sam retorted.

"Bitch," Dean threw right back.

"As touched as I am by this display of brotherly affection, could both of y'all shut up?" Vera asked wearily.

"Darlin'," Dean began in a very bad attempt of the local accent, "you don't wear sarcasm well. You should stop trying."

Vera just grunted in annoyance. She settled back down and seemed to be snoozing again.

Sam put his hand on the back of Dean's neck. Dean had the sudden sense that Sam was about to do something amazingly stupid. He started to slow down the truck and tell Sam not to do whatever it was, but he did not have the chance.

He saw Sam's hand quickly dart out to touch Vera's neck. All at once Dean began to feel fear, loneliness, a desperate exhaustion and terror, as well as an almost deep concern for his and Sam's welfare. Dean was stunned at the depth of her feelings for them already.

Unfortunately, something inside of Vera snapped at that moment. It was like she was having a flashback.

"How dare you!" She screamed. Dean hit the brakes and caught Vera before she launched herself over the back seat at Sam. Dean killed the engine and threw the keys onto the floor. He grabbed her arms and pinned her against the passenger side door. Sam was horrified. He had felt a psychic lash poised to strike him for a split-second before Vera tried coming over the back seat at him. It was like she was on the verge of burning out his brain before she switched to a physical attack.

"Dean!" Sam yelled desperately. "Don't grab her by the throat!" Sam realized that if he did she would lash out at him and he could be worse than dead. "Open your door!"

The front door of a crew cab had to be opened before the back doors could. Dean opened it quickly while trying to keep Vera from bolting after Sam. After it was open Sam ran up the road to Nora's, stopping about 50 feet ahead of the truck.

Vera stopped struggling a few moments after Sam left the truck. She hung her head and was gasping for air when Dean shook her.

Vera felt like Sam had rather clumsily turned her whole brain inside out and she was suffering from a severe attack of vertigo. The world tilted around her. Dammit, he was too strong and she was too tired. Normally she would have been able to stop him. She had almost struck back reflexively. If she had done so, she could have killed him. He was too powerful, too sensitive and too open right now. She suddenly realized that Dean was shaking her and calling her name.

"What?" She asked in a daze. She did not want to open her eyes or move her head.

"Look at me," Dean demanded. Were all psychics as high strung as Vera and Sammy? He knew Sammy had done something wrong and Vera was hurt somehow.

"No," Vera mumbled. "I'll be sick. Just let me lie back." She pleaded. After a moment's hesitation Dean helped her lean back in her seat. She kept her eyes closed and head down the entire time. He cursed softly when he saw that her left hand was bleeding under the bandages.

When Dean got out of the truck Vera assumed it was to get Sam. She was trying to get her shields to work right again when she felt her door being opened. Someone was pulling her out of the truck.

"No," she said again, a bit more clearly than she had before.

"Sorry sweetheart," She heard Dean say. "But we're not going anywhere until I'm sure you're okay. We're gonna do it outside the truck if you think you're gonna puke."

She staggered a few steps before she felt her stomach turn itself inside out as well as her mind. Dean had to help her stand and was glad he had a strong stomach. He made a mental note to keep a supply of barf bags handy for Sammy. Psychics seemed to get sick on a regular basis.

Sam cautiously approached the two of them. He was relieved to feel that Vera was no longer on the verge of attacking him again.

"Come help me," Dean asked. "And don't try getting into her brain again."

"Don't worry about that," Sam muttered as he helped her to stay upright. Dean was forcing Vera's head up.

"Open your eyes now," Dean ordered. Vera kept her eyes tightly shut shook her head slightly which caused her to dry heave.

"Come on, just for a second and you can close them again."

Vera opened her eyes for a split second but slammed them shut again. Dean saw that they were dialated but equal. He was releved. He was afraid she'd gotten a concussion.

"Light hurts?" Sam asked.

"Yeah. Just let me lie down for the rest of the trip. I'll be okay. This happens sometimes."

Sam looked at Dean and nodded. They helped her in the back seat of the truck before continuing on to Nora's.

Rattler and Nora were both sitting on the porch, waiting for Sam, Dean and Vera to arrive. Nora was knitting as usual, but Rattler was just sitting there, glancing nervously down the road. They could already see the truck coming up the mountain.

"Do you really think you need me here, Nora? I was a' thinkin' 'bout doing some 'sang gathering." Nora did not immediately answer.

"You know those young 'uns need both of us today. Both of the brothers have nigh killed that poor girl in the past two days, and they'll not have ceased their squabbling until after they leave. You're not leaving just because a few tears have been shed. I'll take her in hand as soon as she gets here and leave the boys to you. I do have to say that I'm proud of the job Dean did back there. Keeping two fussing folks with the Sight calm after bumping heads with no lessons is quite an accomplishment."

Rattler nodded in agreement. 

When the truck pulled up to Nora's mailbox Dean was relieved. Sam should have known better. Hell, he knew better. Nora and Rattler met them at the gate.

Sam was surprised to see how elderly Nora Bonesteel and Rattler were. He expected them to be younger. Rattler had a serious expression on his face as he took him by the arm. Sam had the feeling that he had really screwed up.

"Dean, come help me get her up to the house. She's sick and exhausted and needs a bit of tending to. Sam, you go with Rattler and you mind yourself," Nora said with a stern look to Sam.

Dean and Nora got Vera settled on a bed in one of the guest rooms quickly.

"You know where the kitchen is, Dean, get yourself something to drink while we take care of these two," Nora said when they were done.

Once again, Dean was relieved that he did not have to explain everything. While he was in the kitchen he heard Nora talking to Vera in the guest bedroom and saw Rattler with Sam in the garden through the kitchen window. Dean was torn. He had the opportunity to eavesdrop on both conversations. He decided to listen to Nora and Vera. There was a good chance that Sam would tell him what Rattler said. He eased himself out into the living room and to the couch. It was close enough to hear what was being said through the half open door.

"Now child," Dean heard Nora saying. "It doesn't matter if the cat is white or black, a calico or a tabby all that matters is that it catches mice. You could have saved yourself a whole world of worry if you would have just came up here and spoken with me. You've tired yourself out trying to tend too many things all at once. I'm going to bring you in something to drink and then you should sleep a spell. We will talk later on this evening."

Vera's response sounded like something between a sob and a laugh.

After Nora had brought a drink to Vera she came back into the living room to sit down with Dean.

"Seems that you have been busy since your last visit," Nora said placidly as she picked up her knitting. Dean groaned.

"It seems like ten years since I was up here the first time. Are Sammy and Vera going to be okay?"

"If Sammy starts respecting his gift and Vera quits trying to take on too much they should be fine. Son, you did a good job back there. It was a very dangerous situation. Between Sammy being so open and powerful and Vera being exhausted, they could have either killed or damaged each other back there. It is a good thing that Vera is so well trained. She could have blown little Sammy's mind out with a single strike and if he had retaliated you could have had two bodies back there."

Dean felt a cold sweat prickle his back. He knew things had gotten out of hand, but it was that dangerous? He stared at Nora.

"What really happened back there?" Dean was not sure he wanted to know, but knew he must.

"Your brother forced his way into her mind and showed you what was there. It was like he had ripped her clothes off all at once. Most folks consider that an attack. She was tired and half asleep. She started to strike back but stopped herself." Dean was appalled.

"Why did he do that? Why is Vera so tired?" He was desperate to know the answer to both questions.

"Son, that is for them to tell you, not me. There are some other things that we need to talk about right now."

Dean just nodded.

"Folks with the Sight either tend to be hermits or need other folks to keep their feet on the ground. Rattler and I tend to keep to ourselves. We are both the last of our families. In families where the Sight runs strong there are folks born not only with the Sight, but folks who can help keep them grounded. You certainly have a talent for keeping Sighted folks safe. Like Rattler said, no matter how much your brother may fuss you are the leader of your Hunt group, however small it may be right now."

"Right now?" Dean asked quickly. Nora nodded.

"If you continue Hunting, there will be other folks who will join you." Nora stopped to look directly at him. "You may visit other groups and other Guardians, but you and your brother have too much talent to let yourselves be swallowed up by another group. You and Sammy are the beginning of a new line of Hunters, the founders of a new family. Blood may call to blood and there are Hunting and Guardian families that go back for nigh on a thousand years, but new blood is needed. You are a natural leader, for all of your cheek. That and you can keep more than one psychic, as you call them grounded all without any lessons."

Dean swallowed. For all of his cockiness, he never thought of himself as a leader. That was Dad's job. This was getting scary.

"Vera said something close to what you are saying," Dean said slowly. "About psychics either being alone or needing people that can keep them grounded."

Nora Bonesteel nodded. "Like I said, she is well trained."

Dean's mind seemed to be running away from him, bringing realizations almost faster than he could keep up with them. "Who trained Vera? She has a job in Hamelin. Who is keeping her grounded? We haven't seen anyone around her. She just said that she has lived here for less than a year."

"Child," Nora said, "That's another thing that you will have to ask her. These are not my things to tell."

"She said she trains people yesterday. Does she mean psychically? Who does she train?"

Nora Bonesteel was silent. Dean had the feeling that this was something else he would have to ask Vera and hope he got an answer. Vera was not very good at opening up. More fucking mysteries.

Rattler had taken Sam around the side of the house and past the vegetable garden and down a slight hill.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"We're almost there, boy," Rattler answered tersely.

Sam noticed that they were approaching what looked like a small graveyard. There were only about twenty gravestones. Some of them were no more than splinters of rock and others were so worn that the names and dates could barely be read. There were some shallow depressions that showed graves that had no headstone.

"Sammy," Rattler said softly, "this is the Bonesteel family graveyard. There are 'bout eight generations of Nora's family that have been enclosed in clay here. Her family's had the Sight for generations. They have protected these mountains for hundreds of years, along with my kin. We've used the Sight to protect, but it can be used to harm. It's no lap baby's toy. You gotta learn that son, and learn it fast. The Sight can kill just as soon as keep folks alive as it. Do you understand?"

Sam hung his head in shame. He had been treating it like a toy. He had hurt Vera and she had almost killed him. Rattler's quiet rebuke had more of an effect than being bitched out.

"Do you understand, son?" Rattler asked him again. Sam nodded his head.

"Let's go sit on the porch a spell. We need to talk."

The afternoon was informative for both of the Winchester brothers, but not necessarily fun. Both of them received information about Hunting, their respective abilities and responsibilities. Both of then were a bit overwhelmed.

Sam was not happy with the fact that both Nora and Rattler told him that as far Hunting was concerned Dean was in charge.

Dean was also told in no uncertain terms that he was responsible for the safety of any of the people Hunting with them. Dean realized being in charge was a burden, not a power trip. Then things got really interesting just before dinner.

Vera woke up.

She groaned when she saw the position of the sun through the floor to ceiling windows in Nora Bonesteel's living room.

"I was planning on being back long before now! I have things I need to take care of."

"Young lady, you sit down right there," Nora pointed to a chair next to the couch. "We are nowhere near through here tonight. You have been avoiding this for far too long because of your fears. I know you are tired and have too much on you, but there are folks offering help and you won't take it." She didn't sound unkind, but there was a note of steel in her voice. "You have responsibilities beyond what you are seeing right now and it is time you took them up."

Vera eyes widened.

"Uhhh, why don't Sammy and I go look at the garden," Dean said nervously. Sam was already half out of his seat. Nora did not bother to shield much and this was not going to be good.

"You two stay put," Nora snapped. "This affects all of you. You men folk all want to run off the moment you think things are going to be unpleasant. Y'all have your own fears to face up to. All three of you are in this together."

"In what together?" Vera asked cautiously.

"There is an unclean spirit here. You know it and need to take care of it." 

Vera shook her head despairingly and raised her hands palm up.

"I know there is but I can't pinpoint it. I can't take it alone. I'm not a Guardian or a Hunter!" There were tears in her eyes. "I'm not a strong psychic; I just teach the ones I come across who need it!"

Dean was surprised. She wasn't a strong psychic? What about everything she had done to her office and their cabin?

There was a long silence in the room. The silence seemed to swell with growing realizations on Dean, Sam and Vera's part. Nora Bonesteel just looked calmly at Vera. Sam and Dean kept looking between Nora, Vera and Rattler. Vera looked at Nora with growing horror.

"No," Vera whispered. She managed to put a whole world of denial, grief and panic into that one word.

"You know, child. You can feel it in your bones. Why did you come back here if you didn't?" Nora said gently. 

Dean watched all of this like a hawk ready to strike.

"But we came here to retire. It was only by chance that we found the farm and could come here early. It was a fluke that the library job came open." Vera was actually trembling when she said this, her voice broken and tears spilling over. "I only train people. That's all I do. I'm already 44. How can I start being a Guardian now?"

Sam and Dean looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Vera was 44?

"Each step you have taken has brought you closer to this. You became a priestess. You learned how to use the Sight. You studied under many different teachers. You became a teacher yourself and know how the world is changing. You understand the old ways because of your family. You understand the ways of the newcomers. The farm and your job brought you here as Rattler and I are getting too old to protect these mountains. It is your burden to pick up now. I am almost ninety. You may be 44 years old, but there is no reason that you can't be a Guardian for another 44."

"No," Vera squeezed out the word through her tears. "I'm not strong enough. Guardians are the strongest of their generation. I can name a half dozen who are stronger than me. Even Sam is stronger than me. How can I give these people the protection they need?"

"You may not be one of the strongest of your generation," Nora said quietly. "But you are one of the best trained and most knowledable. You are stronger here than anyplace else in the world. You haven't been here long enough yet to know it."

"What do you mean?" Dean interrupted. He had to understand this. Nora glanced at him. Vera hid her tearstained face in her hands.

"Blood calls to blood. The Kesterson family has lived in these mountains, fought and bled for these mountains, farmed the soil here and buried their dead in it for centuries. The very bones of the earth here have entwined with the blood of the Kesterson's. Vera's family has a strong strand of Cherokee blood. Her family has lived in this land for thousands of years. The blood of her kin gives her more power in these mountains than anywhere on earth. She may not be very strong outside of this land, but here she is very strong. Besides, you have something that almost all Guardians have in addition to the Sight. You have faith."

"What does that have to do with us?" Dean asked.

"With her range of knowledge and the strength that she can tap from this land, she is the best possible teacher for your brother. She can bring him into his full potential as no other teacher can. Since he is here, it is her responsibility to train him, same as it is your responsibility to help her with the unclean spirit. She is a Guardian and you are Hunters. You have a mutual responsibility to one another. All three of you need to acknowledge it and stop trying to kill and deceive one another."

Dean was about to speak when he felt Sam's hand on his wrist.

"But there are two of you acting as Guardians now," Sam said slowly. "Why is Vera alone? You said that there are a lot of new people moving here. Why doesn't she have anyone to help her?" Vera looked up at Sam and Dean.

"She has folks to help her, but some are away on their own troubles right now. There is someone else who wants to help her, but she won't let him." Nora said with a sad nod. "Guardians and Hunters both are usually tempered by fire in the beginning. Like you two, she will have others coming to help her. She is to be the leader of the new Guardian group here same as you are the leader of the new Hunt group." Nora said with a nod to Dean.

"Jay," Sam said with sudden understanding. "That's who wants to help, but she won't let him."

"I can't let him come up here right now." Vera said in a firm but cold voice. "I won't expose him to this. He's too young."

"Bullshit," Dean burst out. "Sammy's only a few years older than him."

"And he has been with a Hunt group since before he could walk. Jay doesn't have that experience," Vera snapped back. Her eyes may be red and her face tearstained, but her wits were sharp and her voice bitter.

"How else is he supposed to learn?" Dean responded.

"Learn what?" Vera asked scathingly.

"To be a Guardian. Nora says it runs in families."

"No!" Vera said with a note of panic in her voice.

Dean could tell that she had not thought of this. "Jay won't be a Guardian. He won't be trapped in this life! I have no children and he is my brother's only child!" She stood up and began to pace restlessly.

"Child, if your nephew wants to be a Guardian he will be. You'd best train him. You and he are the beginning of a new Guardian family same as Sam and Dean are the beginnings of a new Hunt family. You know your nephew will embrace this with a glad heart."

As had happened in his last visit, Dean had the feeling that Nora almost said more but decided not to. He glanced at Sam. He had caught it as well. They exchanged a significant look.

"Why are you so tired?" Dean asked suddenly. "Where are the people who are supposed to help you? We know almost nothing about you." Vera laughed bitterly again. Dean saw the dark shadows under her eyes for the first time.

"Why do you care? You'll finish up this 'job' and be gone again as soon as your brother is trained. You left Jay holding the bag in Chattanooga. You're not very good at cleaning up the messes you make."

Dean stood up to confront her for the second time in two days.

"Are you anything but smoke and mirrors lady? I know what Sammy and I felt. You care for us and you're worried about us." Vera turned to face him.

"How dare you," she growled in a voice barely above a whisper. "How dare you use what Sam took from me and showed to you?" Her head was pounding and her stomach was churning. She was incredibly angry and wanted to lash out. These people were getting painfully close to her.

Sam looked at Nora and Rattler. He could feel flashes of Vera's emotions and he could always feel his brother. Vera was exhausted and desperate, Dean was furious and desperate himself to understand her. The situation was about to explode between the two of them again but they seemed unconcerned. Rattler was actually smiling.

For just a second he had a vision. A glimpse into the future. He was sitting on a large, screened in back porch with all of the people here, with Jay and some others he did not recognize. It was a warm evening, and the air was sweet. But what struck him most were the emotions of that vision.

He was happy. He was whole.

Then Sam realized he and Dean were not going to leave here and never come back.

This was going to be their Hunting base. This was going to become their home.

Nora smiled at him. Rattler winked.

Sam opened his mouth to try to diffuse the argument between the new Hunt and Guardian leaders but decided not to. They probably would not listen to him anyways.

Sam had just learned one of the most important lessons for a psychic.

People did not always want to know what you saw. Sometimes you just had to guide them to it.

Sam's brow furrowed as he watched them. In some ways Vera and his brother were a lot alike. Both of them were very dedicated to their families. Vera was highly trained, Sam was sure that Dean would not rest until he had every bit of training he could get. Both were obviously leaders. Vera was a strong psychic but would not strike out against Dean, no matter how angry she got with him. Dean wouldn't attack Vera because he was a fighter and she was not. It was a question of honor for both of them. He realized that this would probably be one of many arguments between these two. Sam decided to just settle back and let them go at it.

Dean could not understand what was wrong with this woman. All he wanted to know was who she really was. Why was she hiding so much from them?

"Hell!" Dean was yelling. Again. "We don't know who you are, we don't know what you know about this thing, and with all of your magic crap I'm not even sure what you really look like! What is so hard about letting us know anything about you?"

"To know, to will, to dare and to keep silent. Silence is power." Was all she said.

The more he pushed the less Vera wanted to tell him. She was exhausted and did not want to be having this conversation right now. The nap she took was mainly a reaction to Sam fucking with her mind and did not make her feel any better. She still had a headache and her stomach was still cramping. Vera was barely hanging on, and she still had work to do tonight. She just did not feel up to dealing with the situation or this brash, smart-assed pretty boy. She collapsed back into her chair and closed her eyes. This did not help, as Dean was now towering over her, and if anything he was getting louder. Why could he not understand that she was just too tired to try to explain? She was trying to tune Dean out. He was just noise now.

More noise and something hitting her shoulder. She tried to ignore it. Something grabbed her shoulder and shook her. Fuck 'em. She was comfy and sleep was beginning to slide back over her. The hand on her shoulder dug its fingers in painfully, hard enough to bruise. She reluctantly opened her eyes.

"...you home," Dean was saying. Growling, actually. He seemed pretty pissed off and his face was set, like he had just made a decision.

"Could you not break my shoulder?" Vera wearily asked. At this point she did not really care what he was saying.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Oh, was that you bellowing a few moments ago?" Vera asked as she closed her eyes again. The fingers on her shoulders pinched hard enough to make her yelp.

"Wake up!" Dean was yelling. He was not letting up on the pressure he was applying to her shoulder. Dean did not need to be a psychic to understand something was wrong with her. Was it from what Sammy had done earlier? It was taking him yelling at her and almost crushing her shoulder to get her to wake enough for him to talk to her.

"What?" Vera asked again.

Damn it, her eyes were not focusing. Dean wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his life caring for sick psychics?

"I'm taking you home. Sam and I'll take care of whatever it is you need to do at your place. Tomorrow is Saturday. Do you have to be anyplace you have to be?"

"No," she said. Her voice was becoming slurred. "You're hurting me. I don't want you.

"Too bad sweetheart," Dean said in a sharp and sarcastic voice. "Your grounds are gone and Sammy fucked up your brain. Nora and Rattler insist I'm the Hunt leader and Sammy and I are the only Hunters up here right now. Hunters and Guardians are supposed to help each other, and you're about to fall out of your chair. I'm pulling rank. I'm in charge, and tomorrow I'm getting some answers out of you."

"Supper's been ready for a while," Nora spoke up. "Why don't you put her back in the guestroom? The rest of us will have a bite of supper and we'll see if we can get some soup and a bit of bread into Vera before you take her home."


	7. The Clinging Fire Joins Fire

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 7: The Clinging, Fire Joins Fire**:

**Summary:** The Brothers Winchester begin to realize how odd Wake County is.

Dean hoped they had not taken a wrong turn. Nora had given him directions to Vera's house, but it was almost dark and Vera was in no condition to help him. He and Sam almost had to carry her out to the truck when supper was over. She was sleeping now in the seat beside him. Vera looked like hell. Dean guessed that she was tired enough that she had dropped all of her magical disguising. She was curled into a ball and holding her head. She moaned whenever the light of an oncoming car hit her.

Dean had gone by the library to drop Sam off. Sam was going to take the Impala and get a change of clothes for them before coming out to Vera's place. He wanted Sam and Vera separated for a while, he sure as hell was not going to leave him alone with Vera the way she was right now.

They had turned off a paved road almost a mile ago. Dean was about to try to wake Vera up when he saw a house ahead. When he pulled up closer he almost could not believe what he saw.

The place was huge. He was told she lived in a large farmhouse. Dean was expecting something like Nora Bonesteel's place, just a little larger. This thing was a two-story monstrosity that looked like it came out of _Gone With The Wind_. 

There were four cars parked in front of the house. How many people normally lived here? Vera had mentioned something about her coven being gone. Did all of them live here? Dean left Vera in the car and went to see if her house key would open the door. He was glad when it did. At least they were at the right place.

"Shit!" Dean yelled. There was a Chow dog and three cats charging him as he entered the door. The dog tried to stop, scrabbling across the hardwood floor. The cats stopped more gracefully. One of the cats yowled at him.

The black Chow was looking at him and the weirdest cat he had ever seen was sniffing his boots. The cat was solid black and looked like it was half rabbit. The cat's hind legs were long out of proportion to the body and it had just a little stub of a tail. Dean slowly eased out and shut the door. He hoped that they would be friendlier when he brought Vera in.

When he pulled Vera out of the car she moaned in what looked like pain and tried to struggle. Nora Bonesteel said she would be fine, she just needed rest and quiet, but she could get worse before she got better. Sam had really done a job on her.

He manhandled her through the front door. Dean stopped to get a good look at the place when they were inside. They were in a large foyer with a grand staircase directly in front of them. The floor was of some light-colored wood and it had been pegged, not nailed, into place. There were hallways and doors leading off the foyer. Dean knew from working haunting jobs the place was well over a hundred years old. It would have been beautiful except for one thing.

It looked like it had not been lived in for thirty years. Plaster was crumbling off the walls in places, showing the bricks beneath. The floor was scuffed in places and there were pieces missing out of the handrails on the staircase. There was evidence of extensive work being done on the place, but it looked as if it had barely begun.

Dean shook Vera. "Okay sweetheart, where's your bedroom?" He had to shake her a few times and repeat the question before she answered.

"Stop calling me that...living room, on left, couch." Dean sighed in frustration.

"Do you have a bedroom?" Dean asked.

"Upstairs. Let me lay down," she said, holding her head and trying to lie down on the floor where they stood. It was obvious she had a killer headache and making her stand was torture. Oh well.

Dean started dragging her up the staircase. When they got to the top he could see a bathroom directly in front of them and long hallways leading down to each end of the house to the left and right. He started shaking Vera again. She actually sobbed in pain.

"Where's your room?"

"Left," she managed to get out, "End."

A fluffy grey-and-white cat kept meowing and rubbing his legs as he tried to walk. Dean grunted in annoyance. At the end of the hallway there was a door to the right and a large open space to the left that looked like a sun room.

Dean opened the door and turned on the light. This room looked like it had been mostly renovated. There were plaster patches on the walls, but they had not been sanded smooth or painted yet.

He lowered Vera onto a queen-sized bed and took off her boots before covering her with a light blanket. The weird-looking black cat had followed them and jumped up on the bed beside Vera, looking at him malevolently. It hissed at him. Dean decided to ignore it and check out the rest of the house. The grey-and-white cat followed him.

There were five other rooms upstairs besides what he had already seen. Four of them looked like bedrooms and one was storage. All of the bedrooms but one looked like there was someone staying in them. That bedroom just had a king-sized bed and a few other pieces of furniture. Dean decided that he and Sam would sleep in there. It was close to Vera's room and looked like a guest room.

Downstairs he found a kitchen, two bathrooms that looked like they had recently been installed, a dining room, a living room and sun room. There was an enormous screened in back porch. The kitchen was trashed. It looked like Vera had just been scarfing down something and then running. He also found a room that was empty except for four altars along the walls and one in the center. Dean backed carefully out of that one. Who knew what was going on in there? He found another bedroom and a storage room.

Then he found the office.

It was one of the largest rooms in the house. There were floor to ceiling bookcases on almost every wall and three desks. The bookcases were crammed with books. History, science, grimoires, folklore, the occult, feminism, ecology, organic farming, magic, ghost, parapsychology, archaeology, horse breeding, gemstones, tarot, Hermeticism, and Native American theology were some of the subjects that jumped out at him. There were multiple copies of some of the books. Was this several personal libraries combined? He and Sammy would never have to hit a public library again except for local information if they had all of these books. There were thousands of them.

He looked through the desks and found Vera's. He saw a red light blinking under some papers and moved them. An answering machine? Looks like she was keeping it low tech. He hit the play button.

A rough female voice had left the first message. It sounded like she had been crying.

"Vera, this is Sahba. I'm sorry but I have no idea what time it is at home right now. Michael died earlier today. Jeremy is okay, but he and his mom are pretty broken up. Jeremy will probably be released from the hospital tomorrow, so I booked a larger room for the two of us. I'm going to try to rent a car; there is no way he can take the public transportation system. Margaret seemed to be doing alright, she only had a broken hip and arm, but she's not looking good since Mike went. We might need you to help with getting Mike's body shipped back home." Sahba gave a bitter laugh. "Never thought I'd be using my college French for this. I'm glad that Jay is done with summer school and is up there helping you hold down the fort. I'll call later."

Dean swallowed and sat down at the desk. Shit. The next message began to play.

"Hi Ashera! This is Amber Cat. We missed you at Lammas. It was a kick ass gather! Hope you can make it to Mabon. Heard your coven is having a hard time right now, we'll all light a candle for you. B. B.!"

Amber Cat? Who was Ashera? One of the room mates? The next message was playing.

"Aunt Vera, please pick up! It's me! Mom just found out that I'm Pagan and she is throwing me out! She said that this is the final straw after getting expelled! Please call! I need you to come and get me! Dad has talked her into letting me stay until someone can pick me up! Call my cell ASAP!"

Crap. The next message was playing.

"Vera, this is Emma, Tonya is doing okay but we had a bad scare night before last. Rob had to take her to the ER because she was going into labor again. I stayed home with Jimmy. The doctors want her to hold on at least another two weeks. I know it's tough right now, but just hang on. Make Jay work his lazy ass off. Call me when you get the chance."

Another beep.

"Aunt Vera, a friend of mine from Pigeon Forge came and got me. Mom destroyed my altar and trashed my books. I managed to slip my Book of Light and Shadow, pent and athame out. Where are you? I need you! Please call me! I don't know how long my cell will still be working. Call me on my friend's line." Jay rattled off a string of numbers.

Dean realized she had not told her room mates anything about the situation. Two of them were apparently in France, one was hurt and the other was caring for him. The other sounded like she was taking care of a pregnant relative. They all thought Jay was helping her. But she was not letting Jay come up because she was afraid he would be hurt. Vera had tried keeping the situation a secret from him and Sam to protect them. She had not told anyone anything. Dean resisted the urge to go upstairs and bitch her out. That could wait until tomorrow afternoon. Instead he called Jay. That damned grey-and-white fluff ball was still rubbing against his ankles.

"Aunt Vera?" Jay asked anxiously as he came on the line.

"Uh, no, this is Dean."

"Dean?" Jay's voice was suspicious.

"Yeah, we met on that job in Chattanooga, remember the Uk..."

"I remember," Jay said, cutting him off quickly with a sharp warning in his voice. "Let me talk to my aunt."

"She's asleep right now Jay. She's sick." There was a hostile pause on the other end of the line.

"She didn't say anything about you being there."

"We're up here on another job; Vera doesn't seem to be very good at sharing. There's a..." Jay cut him off again.

"I'm glad she gave you a job helping out with the farm. Does she have a, um, migraine?" Migraine? Jay seemed to being very closed mouthed on the phone. What did Jay really know about his aunt?

"Yeah, I think so. Headache, dizzy, sick to her stomach." Jay was quiet again. It was amazing how much hostility this kid could radiate over a phone line.

"Aunt Vera hasn't had one of those in a very long time." There was outright accusation in his voice now. "I have migraines sometimes, but Aunt Vera can usually take care of them."

Jay was psychic? He should have known after what Nora Bonesteel said. Why hadn't he told them in Chattanooga? Was that why he believed them so easily and was willing to help with the Uktena?

"Yeah, Sammy had a migraine the other night. I think the work on the job was getting to him." There was another pause.

"Do you think she can come get me tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. Tell me how to get to you and I'll come pick you up tomorrow if she can't." Dean wrote down the address and sketchy directions he could fill in with Map Quest. Vera was not going to be able to pick Jay up. He would make sure she rested.

"What needs to be done in the morning? Tell me about the animals?" Dean asked.

Jay warmed up towards him as he launched into a long monologue about the farm. Dean was glad he had a pencil and paper ready. There were two barns, one for storage and another for eight horses! There were six goats, a half dozen house cats and about two dozen feral barn cats. Then there were four dogs. Dean was glad that all the horses were in the pasture. All he had to do for them was spread around a few bales of hay for them and for the goats. He found out where the dog and cat food was. He had a feeling that they would keep them awake if they were not fed.

The grey-and-white cat kept meowing at him. The weird black one came back into the office and jumped onto the desk.

The grey-and-white cat head butted Dean's leg again and pounced on an imaginary mouse, trying to get Dean's attention. Dean was too busy talking to Jay to notice. The black cat hissed and lashed out at Dean's hand.

"Shit!" Dean jumped up and looked at his now bleeding hand. "What the hell is it with this weird-looking black cat?" Jay laughed at him.

"That's Shade, Aunt Vera's fa...cat. Try to stay on Shade's good side. She can make your life miserable if you don't."

"Okay, we're talking about a cat. You sound like she's intelligent or something." Shade hissed again, causing Dean to stare. "What's the story about this grey-and-white fur ball? I can't walk without tripping over him."

"That's Griffin. He's about six months old. Last time I saw him he looked like he is going to be a monster when he grows up. He doesn't have a human yet."

Griffin heard his name, looked up at Dean and mewled again. He jumped up on his hind legs and put his paws on Dean's knee. Dean just stared in disbelief at the furry half-grown cat. He was already bigger than most of the cats here.

"Uh, yeah, okay. Where are the car keys? There are four cars here besides the truck. I might need to move some of them around." Jay told him all the keys were marked and hanging off nails in the wall next to the back door. They finished making arrangements for Dean to go pick him up.

Dean hung up the phone and sat back down at the desk. Taking Vera home had certainly given him a lot of answers about her. The house had been a shock. Her coven had a small farm they were running as a commune. They were all gone and she was trying to do all the work, plus her job and deal with whatever monster was out there. He understood why she was tired. Dean wondered if he should leave the messages for her or erase them. Someone she knew had died, did she need to know yet? Shit. She might have to help get the body home.

Well, she was resting tomorrow. She could not train Sam the way she was now. Dean was going to take all of the car keys and lock them in the glove box of the Impala when Sam got back. Then he was going to unplug her alarm clock and ensure all of her curtains were drawn tight. He and Sam would take care of all the animals and clean up the kitchen. 

Then he would be waiting for her when she woke up.

Sam made a quick decision on his way back to the KOA. He was almost done with the work at the campground. He was not just going to get a change of clothes for him and Dean. They were moving in with Vera.

He stopped by the lobby to talk with Betsy Rice to let her know he would be back on Monday to finish up the last of the cabin maintenance. Then he packed up all of his and Dean's belongings.

He was glad he made a sketch of everything Vera had done to the cabin. He used it to find all the crystals. He did not want to leave any of them behind. Sam also scuffed up the symbols, just to be safe. From what Nora Bonesteel and Rattler told him this would not hurt anything and Vera would definitely want these crystals back.

Dean would probably be pissed off at him at first, but this was going to be home. They were going to have a real home where people understood. No one and nothing was going to ruin it for them.

As he was getting into the car he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look, and in the half light of early dusk he saw Katie Wyler. She appeared to be just as solid as before. She looked at him with a sad yearning.

"There is always danger when you're going home. Be careful."

Her whispered words caused Sam to get goose bumps as she disappeared. He knew her words were a warning, not a threat. "Thank you Katie," he whispered back. Anything out there that was going to try to fuck this up for them had better get ready. Sam's heart was more into this Hunt than any he had ever been on.

Dean was getting worried; it seemed to be taking Sam a lot longer than he needed to get a few things from the cabin. Dean had already cleaned up the kitchen and was starting on the living room. He was relieved to see the Impala pull up.

"Sammy," Dean called out as he came out the front door. Griffin was still following him around. Dean had already fed the cats and dogs. What was it with this one? "What took you so long?"

Sam was pulling duffle bags out of the trunk. "It took me a while to pack everything up. Come give me a hand."

"Why did you pack everything? We don't need all this just for a few nights."

Sam looked Dean straight in the eye. "We're moving in."

"What?"

"The work is almost done at the campground and Vera needs help here. It'll make it easier for her to train me. We…I just feel like we need to be here." Sam said a little defiantly. Dean stared at him. Sammy would not look away. He was standing his ground on this.

After the time they had both spent with Nora and Rattler, Sam and Dean had both been thinking about their relationship, both as brothers and as their own small Hunting group. Sam did want to settle down, eventually. Right now he knew he needed this training. Things were changing too quickly; he was not going to leave Dean to Hunt alone or with anyone else for a while. If they were to be the beginning of a new Hunting bloodline, they needed to get established. Dean may be in charge of the Hunt, but Sam still had a say.

Dean kept staring at Sam. He had made a decision for both of them on his own. He hinted that he decided this due to his psychic abilities. Logically, it made sense now that Sam had explained it. Dean tried to control his temper. Sam was right. Dean bit his lip.

"Okay, come on. You're not going to believe this place."

About an hour later Sam stood alone on the back porch. It looked like it was one of the first parts of the house that had been renovated. He turned off the porch light and sat down in one of the mismatched chairs. The moon was full tonight so he could see the area around the house pretty well. This was the porch he saw in his vision. He laughed. It was strange to have good memories of a place he had never been before. He heard his brother calling for him from the office.

"Out here!" Sam called. As Dean walked towards him through the moonlight Sam began to get a sense of his brother's future. They were not going to go on two radically separate paths as Dean feared. The Hunting and Guardian community would let them be brothers while still having their own lives. And Dean could become a legend, even among Hunters.

Eventually, Dean would have others wanting to join him. Other Hunters would ask his advice, his bravado, cunning, instincts and viciousness on the Hunt would make him a hero to younger generations. Dean would be one of the very few that could take more than one or two psychics out into the field with him. When he could no longer go into the field he would be one of the most in-demand trainers until the end of his life. Dean would emerge from their father's shadow and quit being a follower and become a great leader himself.

If the dumb fuck didn't get himself killed doing something stupid first.

"Dude, what are you grinning at?" Dean asked as he sat down next to Sam.

"It's a psychic thing, you wouldn't understand." Dean smacked him on the back of the head. Sam just kept grinning at him.

"Seriously Sammy, what is it? I could use some good news."

Sam smirked. "I just have good memories of this place."

"You've only been here about an hour. What happened, you have a quickie with a goat?" Sam just continued grinning and looked out the yard. Dean tried again.

"Come on, what's up with the spidey sense?"

Sam continued looking at the yard, his mouth pressed closed and his face serious at Dean's continued questioning.

"I'm not sure you'll believe me." He said after a moment. Dean felt like Sam just was not concerned about not being believed, but he was afraid, too. Shit, no matter how much a psychic could help out it sounded like they were all whiney little bitches at times; except Nora and Rattler. Hopefully Sam would get over it soon.

"We won't know if you don't tell me. Didn't you get that part of the lecture where you're supposed to tell me if you have a vision or feel something and I'm supposed to pay attention? I thought Rattler was going to go on about it until we were his age."

Sam shrugged. "Okay. This is home now. We are going to be setting up our Hunting base here. Vera, Jay and the rest of her coven and some other people are going to be helping us from now on. We're not alone anymore and probably never will be again."

Dean and Sam sat there on the back porch in silence, watching the moon and stars move through the sky. Griffin jumped into his lap. Dean absently began petting him.

Dean realized that Sam has said "We." "We were going to set up our Hunt base here. We are never going to be alone again." Sam was not going to leave him, not for a 'normal' life or for another Hunt group. Dean reached out and took one of Sam's hands.

Having psychics around was not all bad. You could let them know how you felt without having to say anything at all.

The phone in the office started ringing a few moments later. Dean walked back into the office but did not know if he was going to answer it or not. He was going to listen to see if Jay was calling again. He sat down at Vera's desk and began rearranging things with a smirk. He knew that would piss her off. Then the caller started leaving a message.

It was not Jay. It was Jay's mom. 

"You stupid Satanic bitch! You've destroyed my family! Jay is going to Hell because of you. I hope you're happy. You've wanted to take him away from me since he was a little boy, and now you have. You're evil, and God knows it. That's why you can't have children. I can't believe I let Josh talk me into letting you be around him, you freak of nature."

Dean could hear a man's voice in the background telling her to calm down. He was saying something about she was the one who threw Jay out, otherwise he would be home. The man's voice came on the line, sounding tired and tearful.

"Sis, I'm sorry Lisa is like this. Take good care of Jay for me and tell him I love him. Thanks for keeping him out of jail. If you can find a school to take him, let me know. I'll pay for it. Call my cell." Vera's brother hung up the line, but not before Dean heard her sister-in-law spit out more verbal venom.

Dean wrote down what Vera's brother had said about Jay and then erased the message. She did not need to hear this one. 

Then he went upstairs to check on her.

Dean and Sam were both asleep. Dean planned on getting up early to pick up Jay and be back before Vera woke up and recovered. Sam was going to take care of the animals and keep an eye on Vera. Dean was not very happy with leaving Sam and Vera alone, but he did not know of a better plan. He told Sam to try to stay away from her if she woke up before he got back. Dean did not want Sam around a lot of people until he had some training. Hopefully Vera would not be so hair triggered after some rest.

Sam had closed the door as he went to bed, but the doors in the house were loose. All it took was for Griffin to jump against the door just right to open it. Griffin jumped up on the bed and snuggled down against Dean's side. Another cat came in, a kitten really. She was a tiny little thing and pure white except her tail, which was dark grey. Her blue eyes shone in the moonlight coming through the curtains. She was too small to jump up on the bed, she had to climb up. When she managed to get up Griffin looked at her.

"Hey Star! You're being daring tonight," Griffin said approvingly. Starlight was the kitten of one of the feral barn cats. She was the runt of the litter and was dying when Emma found her and brought her into the house about two months ago. She said nothing but rubbed her head against Griffin in greeting. Griffin pinned her down with a paw and began grooming her. 

After a moment Griffin said proudly, "This is going to be my human."

Starlight sniffed Dean delicately. "He's not very psychic." She said quietly.

"Yeah, that's what Shade said," he whispered. Shade was sleeping with Vera across the hall and he did not want her to hear him. She was rather cranky because she was shielding Vera so she could heal enough to do it herself. Then she planned on letting Sam and Dean know how pissed off she was with them.

"Shade doesn't think he's good enough for me, but he's a warrior. That's what I am. I'm not very psychic either, but I can help him. Why did you come in?" Griffin asked. He liked her company, but she was still very shy and did not come around the humans very often.

Starlight walked over to Sam and began sniffing and licking his hand. She walked up Sam's sleeping form and snuggled down into the crook of his neck and shoulder.

"I like him." Star said quietly. "I'll be his familiar if he'll let me."

Dean woke up as soon as Sam began whimpering and writhing on the bed. Interesting how in tune he was getting with his baby brother. He could sleep well now but wake up the second Sammy started acting strangely in his sleep. He was beginning to understand why Vera said the slight psychic link he had with him could be useful.

Dean rolled his eyes. God, he was having another erotic dream. Sam was getting more action in his sleep than Dean had in months. He was going to have to ask Vera about this. It would be hard enough talking to Vera about it; he could not imagine trying to bring it up with Nora or Rattler.

He felt something against his side; he looked and saw the grey-and-white, long-haired cat curled up against him. When Dean shifted Griffin's head snapped up and he started purring. Dean sighed and stroked the cat's head. He turned over on his side to look at Sam. He was moving slightly in the bed and whimpering. Dean was startled by a pair of blue eyes under Sam's chin. A little cat he had not seen before was snuggled up to his brother. He wondered what he should do. Acting on instinct, he eased over to Sam and gingerly held him.

_Sam was cushioned in a soft bed between two bodies. His dark-haired lover from his previous dream smiled at him and traced Sam's lips with a thumb. Sam smiled as the brunet closed in for a slow, long kiss._ Far too soon, Sam was waking up.

Dean held Sam as he shuddered awake. Dean noticed that the little white cat was licking his cheek and ear. Dean smiled, she was cute. He could tell that Sam was comforted by being held, but after a few moments Dean moved back over to his side of the bed. Neither of them said anything. Sam went to clean himself up and came back to bed.

Sam and Dean got up around six that morning. Sam went out to take care of the animals while Dean got ready to pick up Jay. He looked in on Vera and saw that she had barely moved from where he had put her the night before. Shade was still with her, and she glared at him from Vera's side. Dean just shook his head and left to pick up Jay. What he did not notice was Griffin slipping into the car and into the back seat as he was leaving. Griffin was not going to let his new human out of his sight.

About 15 miles from Vera's Dean was surprised by Griffin jumping into his lap. He nearly ran off the road.

"Damn it cat! Vera is going to try to kill me if anything happens to you." Griffin perked his ears forward. _Only if you make me leave. You're my human now!_ Of course, Dean only heard this as a meow. He frowned. He decided to just keep the windows rolled up and hope for the best.

Other than worrying about Griffin, the drive was not too bad. Griffin kept hopping up and putting his paws on the dashboard next to him to look outside. Dean hoped the cat did not get car sick. Dean was glad he found where Jay was staying pretty easily. He was relieved; he really did not want to get lost on these back roads with a cat in the car.

Jay was certainly glad to see him, but Dean quickly picked up on the fact that Jay did not want to talk until they were on the road. They had a hard time keeping Griffin in the car, but he ran back to Dean when called and jumped into the car. Jay was surprised to see the cat, and was amused by Dean's explanation of how the young cat had been acting. After discussing the cat, the talk in the car lapsed.

"So," Dean said, trying to start a conversation in the awkward silence in the Impala. "How well do you know your aunt?"

Jay stared at him from the passenger seat.

"Well, she's my aunt, what do you think?"

"Vera's a pretty secretive person. It's hard to tell what your aunt may have told you about."

"Well, you said she was sick on the phone. What's wrong with her?"

Shit, Jay was going to play a game of 'I'll show mine only if you show me yours'. They did not have time for this, so Dean decided to come clean with him. Well, not completely.

"Dude, you know Sam and I are Hunters. There is something bad going down in Wake County and we met your aunt and know she's a pretty powerful psychic. She's gonna be training Sam and we are helping her with the demon or whatever it is up there. She doesn't want you at her place because she's afraid you'll get hurt. She was trying to keep it a secret from you. Hell, she was trying to keep it a secret from us. She realized that Sammy was an untrained psychic and she was afraid he'd be hurt too. When I left she was still asleep and Sammy was checking in on her while doing stuff around the house. Sammy accidentally hurt her and we're trying to take care of her, but she doesn't want to let us. Vera doesn't know I've come to get you. She's probably going to be very pissed off when we get there."

Jay looked horrified. "Oh man. Did she get any of my messages?" Dean took a deep breath.

"No. She was out of it by the time I got her home. I listened to her messages, that's how I found out you were thrown out. Somebody named Sahba called. Do you know who she is?"

"She's my auntie and one of Aunt Vera's coven mates. She's in Paris right now 'cause Uncle Jeremy was hurt in a car accident while he was on a trip with his parents."

Dean was surprised. "Vera has sisters and brothers other than your dad?"

"No, Sahba is my auntie, not my aunt. Aunties are adopted aunts. Jeremy is another of Aunt Vera's coven mates." Dean paused, not knowing how to tell him Mike was dead.

"How well do you know Jeremy's parents?" Dean asked.

"I've met them a few times, they're pretty cool. They know Uncle Jeremy is Pagan and they're okay with it. I wish my mom was."

Okay, it did not sound like Jay was going to have a meltdown over Mike's death. He guessed he should let him know so he could see what kind of reaction Vera would have to the news.

"I heard a message from Sahba that Mike died a few days ago. I haven't told Vera yet because she's so tired and stressed. How do you think she'll take it?" Dean asked softly.

Jay swallowed and his face became mask like. "She'll be upset. She knows them pretty well, but she'll worry more about Uncle Jeremy. I'll call Auntie Sahba when we get there to let them know Aunt Vera is sick and probably won't call for a few days."

"Sorry to hear about you getting thrown out. I'm sure you'll get things worked out. I heard a message that your mom left," Dean paused.

"Let me guess," Jay said bitterly. "She was calling Aunt Vera a freak and saying that she ruined the family and has condemned me to Hell and a lot of other really nasty crap."

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll be able to work it out. Family needs to stick together. Maybe you can call your mom when we get there."

"I wish Aunt Vera was my mom."

"Hey, don't say that," Dean burst out with a scowl. "You only have one mom. I know you think your aunt is..."

"Do you know what she did for me?" Jay interrupted and sounded furious. "She knew I was psychic from the day I was born and I would need help. She pretended to be Southern Baptist for years, just so she could help me. Mom wouldn't have let her get anywhere near me if she hadn't. When I first realized I was bi it was Aunt Vera who told me it was okay and I wasn't sinful or going to Hell. She got me condoms and told me about safe sex. Aunt Vera kept things a secret and covered for me most of my life. I'm glad that my mom threw me out. Now I can go be where I belong. I can be with the only real family I have. So shut the fuck up about how I should stay with my family. Aunt Vera and the coven are my only family."

Dean was shocked. He had spent so long with only Sammy and Dad as his family. Jay made him realize that most families were larger and more complex. From the message last night Dean had the feeling that Jay's dad would not have thrown him out if it was his choice.

"Dude," Dean began. "Listen, your dad said to tell you he loved you and that he'd pay for the rest of your college."

"Yeah, Dad loves mo so much that he didn't stand up to Mom last night. He's so pussy whipped it's pathetic. I'm better off with Aunt Vera. At least with her I can be who I really am. I'm not a freak or a weirdo, I'm just different. One thing that Aunt Vera taught me is that it's okay to be different. Most people are sheep, they're too afraid to be themselves because they're afraid of what other people think. The only reason why Aunt Vera and I pretend to be something else is because of the rest of our family. Now we don't have to anymore."

Dean sat in silence. Was this how Sammy had felt growing up?

"So, fill me in on what's going on with Aunt Vera."

When Vera woke up she felt like she was hung over from a three day drunk and someone had been beating her with rubber hoses. She groaned and tried to remember how she got home. She remembered Dean having something to do with it. She was surprised he got her to the right bedroom. Shade rubbed against her shoulder. Despite her headache she smiled and caressed her familiar's head.

Vera groaned again, wondering what time it was. The alarm clock was not working. With a grunt of annoyance she hauled herself out of bed. Well, if she was late feeding the animals she might as well get a cup of tea. Something that would help her head and stomach. She decided to shower after feeding everyone. Maybe that would help her pounding headache.

Getting downstairs Vera noticed that the kitchen had been cleaned. Hmm. It looked like the brothers had actually done something to help out. She pulled her favorite mug out of the cabinet and began looking through the herbs for a good combination. She decided on lavender, chamomile, peppermint, lemongrass and rosemary with a bit of honey. Vera was debating heading out to the garden for fresh herbs or just using dried.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed!"

Vera shrieked and dropped her mug onto the counter. She almost lashed out again psychically but when she turned and saw Sam she checked herself. She had just pulled the second psychic blow in two days. Her mind rebounded and she turned to the sink, retching.

"Sam, what in the name of all the Gods are you doing here?" She asked after a moment.

"Well, we knew you were sick so we thought we'd help you out this morning."

Vera rolled her eyes. "Thanks for cleaning up the kitchen, but I really want some tea and then take care of the goats and horses. I'm going out to the garden. Why don't you find your brother and head out? I'm sure y'all have something better to do today."

Sam frowned. He did not think telling her that he and Dean had moved in was a good idea at the moment. Sam decided to skirt around the subject until Dean got back. Nora Bonesteel and Old Rattler had said if a Guardian was not able to handle their area a Hunt group could come in and take over until they were "fit for duty."

Nora and Rattler had both said that they were too old to handle the situation and Vera was not up to doing training right now. That meant Dean was technically in charge, but it was understood that he would be guided by Nora and Rattler. Sam decided to let Dean break that news to her.

"Why don't I go get the herbs for you?" Sam asked brightly, trying to change the subject. Vera looked at him suspiciously.

"Thanks Sam, but with my luck you'd manage to find hemlock and poison me. I swear you and Dean are literally going to be the death of me. Like I said, I have things to do today. Why don't you come back tomorrow?"

"I've already feed all the animals for you." Sam went on, heroically trying to sidestep all the suggestions that he leave.

"And what did you feed them? Some of the horses get a special mix of grains." Sam noticed that Vera's face was beginning to get red. The grimace on her face seemed to indicate that her headache and other symptoms were growing along with her temper.

"Err, well, Jay told us what we needed to feed the all the animals." 

Vera closed her eyes. "And how did you get hold of him?"

"His cell phone, we still had his number from the Uktena job."

Vera opened her eyes. Well, she had to give them some credit. It sounded like they were not total idiots. They had some problem-solving ability. She was just trying to figure out how the hell the two of them had managed to stay alive as Hunters for this long.

"Thanks Sam, I mean it, but I really have things I need to do."

"Um, well, I can't leave."

"Why not?"

"Dean left." There was no way Sam was going to tell her Dean was picking up Jay.

"When is he coming back?"

"Oh, he'll be gone for another few hours or so."

"Fine, I'll put on some clothes and take you back up to the KOA. Do both of y'all have cells?"

"Nora said you don't need to drive right now!" Sam protested.

"Oh, but I insist."

"Um, yeah, but I'm afraid you're not going to be able to take me back to the KOA."

Vera's eyes narrowed and her face was getting red again. "And why exactly is that?" She asked softly. Sam realized that she thought he had just threatened her.

"Well, it's not what you think. Um, you see you can't take me back to the KOA because Dean took all the keys to the cars."

Vera's grimace deepened and her gaze was downright hostile. Starlight slipped into the kitchen, but neither of them noticed her.

"I don't give a flying fuck or a rolling doughnut if you have to walk. You're leaving."

"Erm, well, Dean and I moved in last night." Vera's eyes began to glitter dangerously.

"And whose idea was this?" Vera asked again, closing her eyes.

Sam could almost feel her counting to ten. "Well, it was mine. You see, we knew you needed help here because you were trying to do too much. You need to train me, too. So I just thought it would be easier if we just moved in."

"Where did Dean go with all of the car keys?" Vera asked through gritted teeth.

Sam sighed, Vera was like a dog with a bone. "Well, Jay's mom threw him out of the house last night, so Dean went to pick him up." 

Vera's eyes flew open. "HE'S DOING WHAT!!! I don't want him up here right now. It's not safe. Who in the hell do y'all think you are?" Vera collapsed back on the counter. Her head was killing her and she was about to retch again.

"Get out of my house this second or I'm calling the police. When Dean gets here he can drop off Jay and give me the keys back." Vera was struggling not to start throwing things.

Sam hesitated. He and Dean agreed that she was resting today and they would literally sit on her if they had to. She had been trying to deal with the situation for so long on her own she seemed to be blind to help. He knew it was exhaustion.

Sam decided to call Dean to see if he had picked up Jay yet. Maybe the two of them could calm her down. He looked down and saw the little white cat that had been sleeping with him earlier rubbing against his legs. She looked up at him anxiously. Vera seemed to be swaying slightly. Sam said nothing else to Vera and went outside. The little cat followed him. He was relieved when Dean picked up on the first ring.

"Dean, we have a problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"Vera's awake." Sam quickly explained the situation. "Is Jay with you?"

"Yes, and he is pissed with her. He says that she should have told him about this a lot earlier. Let me talk to her, and whatever you do, don't let her listen to her messages!"

When Sam walked back into the kitchen he found Vera was sitting cross legged on the floor with her back against the cabinets. Shade was curled up with her and looking anxious. Vera opened her eyes.

"What?" She asked dully.

Sam guiltily realized that while finding out about Guardians and Hunters been liberating and good news for him and Dean, it was totally disrupting Vera's life. How would he feel if all of this was dumped on him in his mid-40s?

"Dean wants to talk with you. He has Jay with him."

"Fine," she said, reaching for the phone. "What?" she asked Dean when she got the phone.

Sam wondered when she was going to start speaking more than one word at a time.

"Listen, you're sick and exhausted. Sammy, Jay and I will take care of the farm while you rest up. You can't deal with all of this on your own. Damn it!" Dean was getting upset at her stubbornness and hit the steering wheel. "Like I told you, until you get rested up, I am in charge. Nora and Rattler agree with me."

"Since when did those two start running my life and saying who lived in my home?" Vera's voice sounded very flat.

Dean was beginning to realize that this was not a good sign in her.

"Fuck, you're a Guardian, start acting like one! You know you are, or do I have to haul you back up to Nora's? Guardians and Hunters are supposed to help one another. Don't you realize you're putting everyone in danger by being so damned stubborn?"

Dean bit back on the rest of what he wanted to say. Calling her selfish and a coward probably would not help. Shit, he was learning something they called diplomacy.

Starlight was getting more and more upset. It was hard for her to stay in the kitchen with all the yelling, but Sam was her human. Shade gave her a sharp look.

"You should have waited longer to bond, child." Shade's voice was low and concerned. This frightened Starlight. Shade was the alpha of the indoor cats and Star usually avoided her. Shade was known to run the house with an iron paw. The fact that she was being kind to her must mean that something was very wrong.

Dean had handed the call off to Jay, and now Vera and he were arguing, and that seemed to upset Vera more than anything else. Starlight began crying in her high-pitched voice. Vera stopped and saw the little cat jumping up and putting her paws on Sam's shin. Sam picked her up to cuddle, trying to ease both of their distress. Shade started pawing at Vera's shoulder.

Vera stopped hearing Jay as she saw Sam with Starlight. The quietest and shyest of the familiar potential cats in the home was crying for Sam. She was allowing him to pet and handle her when she barely tolerated Emma, who had rescued and cared for her when she was starving to death. Shade was clawing lightly at her shoulder. Sam had a familiar. On her farm.

There was no way Vera could deny the situation now, or that Sam and Dean were supposed to be there. Vera and her coven believed familiars were sacred gifts from the Gods themselves. The Gods were giving a sign that she could not refute.

Looking up at Sam, Vera said one word as she handed him back the cell.

"Okay."


	8. For Jessica

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 8: For Jessica**

**Summary:** Jessica visits Nora.

Nora sat in her favorite rocking chair on her front porch, a broom and a canister of salt on a small table next to her. Before long a young woman walked up the road to her house and up to the porch. Nora's expression was compassionate but steely. Before the young woman could say anything Nora got up and swept the line of salt away from her door.

"Come in, child," Nora said softly. She re-poured the line of salt. The young woman blushed but followed her to the couch in the living room and sat with her.

"Now child, why haven't you moved on? You can leave anytime you want to. Your spirit is not bound here."

The visitor blinked away tears. "I can't. I can't leave while Sam still thinks it's his fault I died. It's not. I know, I can see deeper into the world now. I was born for him, for the lives he would save and bring into the world. I chose that death before I was born so I could help him, same as he chose to be a psychic and a Hunter."

"Child, you know that we only chose the circumstances of our birth, not how our lives are to be lived before we are born. You knew your relationship with Sam and your death was a possibility, not a certainty. That is why we have the cleft in our upper lip. Gabriel shushes us before we are born. The angels themselves will come if you call them to take you home for your sacrifice," Nora said sternly.

"But I can't while Sam still mourns me so deeply. He still hurts." She cried out, filling the room with an echo of her own pain.

"Sam has to choose to heal, and your presence here is not helping him. If you want to say something to him, why don't you go speak to him? His teacher's wards only keep out hostile spirits, not kind ones. You can go to him."

"That would only hurt him more. Please help him, and tell his teacher, she needs to know." Nora nodded.

'Of course child, but you still need to go on." Jessica nodded through her tears.

"Come along then, let's go out to the garden."

There were two Beings of Light waiting in the garden, surrounded by late summer flowers against the backdrop of the mountains. The garden was bright, the mountains a cool dark green, and the sky a delicate blue, filled with sunshine. A few deer came to the forest edge, drawn by the two new visitors as the local birds burst into loud melodies.

Nora smiled, tears on her old cheeks, running like stream waters down the furrowed wrinkles in her face. Nora had only witnessed this a few times in her life, an imperfect soul so willing to make a sacrifice that no one knew was a sacrifice. Jessica's memory would live on only in Sam's heart.

No one would honor her for her bravery; no one would dedicate a monument to her memory. Her grave would be forgotten within a generation, but she was partly responsible for saving the lives of thousands down through the centuries. Without her the Winchester Hunting line may never have been founded. Dean would have killed himself in the fury of his isolated Hunt, and Sam would have eventually drifted into insanity, his untrained psychic abilities slowly eating away at his mind.

Jessica turned back to Nora, her face showing a mingling for sorrow and joy, her tears like diamonds against pale pink roses. Jessica said only two words.

"Thank you."

Nora smiled as more tears cleansed her face and heart of the sorrows of her own life and reaffirmed her faith. One of the Creatures of the Light smiled and reached a hand towards Nora.

"We will come for you soon as well, our weary Sister. You have fought the good fight, you have stayed the course, you have kept the faith. Your task is almost complete. Guide the new generation well."

With rainbow brilliance a pulse of light surrounded them like a prism that shatters the light into a cascade of colors. The Beings of Light and Jessica faded with that pulse, leaving the world even more alive than when they first arrived. A faint chorus of all the lives Jessica had saved in future generations filled the small garden for a few moments after she disappeared. They faded softly into the sunlight and flowers of the garden.

Nora sat down on her garden bench, looking at the land she had lived on since she had been born. She looked on it anew, realizing how she loved this world despite looking forward to the next.

"Good Lord," she prayed. "Thank you for all of it. Thank you for Sammy and Dean, Vera and little Jay, Kayla and her baby brother and for all of those that will help them keep folks safe. Thank you for letting me know those that will pick up my task. Thank you for allowing me to know that they are equal to it. Like that poor girl that you took yonder, I can also see deeper into the world now."

2 Tim 4:7


	9. The Warriors' Art

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia Chapter 9: The Warriors' Art**:

**Summary:** Sam begins his training and some startling realizations result.

"I am telling you, it was creepy," Sam said, shaking his head. "All of a sudden she just handed me the phone, ate and drank the food and tea I gave her, and went back to bed. The entire time her cat kept staring and pawing at her." Sam was sitting with Jay and Dean on the back porch, talking over the events and catching up on the overall situation. "I think she was crying earlier, but I just left her alone."

"Probably for the best," Jay said. "Aunt Vera has a bad habit of trying to do too many things at once. That and she can be really bad about letting people help her if they are not part of the coven." He got quiet for a moment. "I think she has had to keep so many things secret for most of her life she's always had a hard time letting people in. I didn't even find out she was Pagan until I turned 17, even though she had been training me since I was little." Sam and Dean exchanged glances; they knew what it was like having to keep secrets.

"Yeah," Jay continued with a hint of smugness in his voice, "I've always been able to calm her down when no one else could." Sam surreptitiously touched Dean's arm to let him know that he didn't think that it was Jay that had calmed Vera down. He didn't know exactly what it was, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with Jay.

"Your aunt said something about both Dean and I having familiars, and we both have cats following us around. What's going on with that? We're not Wiccan." Sam asked, reaching up to pet Starlight who was perched on his shoulder.

"You don't have to be Wiccan or even a witch to have a familiar," Jay began, his eyes kept wandering to Sam's fingers stroking Star's fur, "any psychic or magician can bond with a familiar." Sam tensed. This wasn't telling him what the hell a familiar actually was.

"What are they exactly? Are they cats? Why do only psychics and magicians have them?"

Jay pursed his lips. "Well, a familiar can be just about any type of animal and you can have more than one. Auntie Emma has two, Jazzy, a long-haired tabby, and Jose, the black Chow. Auntie Sahba's familiar right now is a cat, Blue Boy. Her last familiar was a parrot. He was over a hundred when he died. I think only psychics and magicians have them 'cause they're the only ones that can understand them."

"So they're just pets?" Dean asked. Jay threw him a disgusted look.

"No. A familiar is not 'just a pet.' They are very devoted to one person and can help you ground or shield if you need it. It's kind of like a parent/child relationship, but not really. They tend to be real smart, like geniuses of their species and can do the weirdest stuff. Aunt Vera's familiar can open and close dresser drawers and turn water faucets on and off. Jose looks after Auntie Emma's grandkids while they're visiting and if they get into trouble Jazzy comes and gets her. Most of the time your familiar will show up if you're doing any heavy duty psychic or ritual stuff. They can also let other people know if their human is sick or upset."

Dean looked down at Griffin in his lap. "So they're like a cat version of Lassie?" Sam tried not to laugh and Jay snorted.

"No, familiars chose you. They're sacred, like a gift from the Gods. At least that's what Aunt Vera says." Jay glanced resentfully at Griffin, who was squirming delightedly in Dean's lap as he rubbed his furry belly.

"So are they like pure breeds? Can you breed two familiars to get more?" Dean asked. Jay shook his head slowly.

"No, and that's really weird. Psychic abilities tend to run in families, but it doesn't seem to with familiars. Jazzy and Griffin are both from the same litter of kittens Auntie Emma rescued, but that's rare. None of the other kittens or their momma are familiars. Jose was an abused dog she got from the pound. Starlight is the runt of a litter of feral barn kittens. She was starving to death when Auntie Emma rescued her. She's really shy." Jay glanced at the little white kitten on Sam's broad shoulder, and then realized he was staring a bit too long and cleared his throat nervously.

Sam shifted uneasily. Dean thought Starlight didn't look old enough to be away from her mother. She liked to suck on Sammy's shirt when she thought she could get away with it.

"What are we supposed to do with them?" Dean asked with exasperation. Sam cuddled with Starlight like it was second nature. He looked down at the furry half-grown cat in his lap. What the hell was he supposed to do with this fuzzy soccer ball? Even though Dean asked the question, Jay looked at Sam as he spoke.

"Well, since they're new, you should spend a lot of time with them. Play, snuggle, let them sleep with you, feed them. Aunt Vera lets Shade drink out of her glass and eat food off her plate. The more time you spend with your familiar, the stronger the bond. Starlight needs special food since she's so young. Auntie Emma keeps special cans of it for her. I'll show you where they are." Jay offered.

"But we travel a lot! How in the hell are we supposed to take care of two cats when we're on the road?" Dean snapped, looking down at Griffin who was gazing up at him adoringly. How would Griffin react when he had to leave him behind on Hunting trips?

"You got me there, chief," Jay smirked.

"Where is your familiar?" Dean asked innocently, even though he was sure of the answer. Jay's stomach started rumbling. "Hey, anyone hungry?" He asked earnestly, leaping to his feet. "I could make some tuna sandwiches."

After lunch, Dean headed upstairs to sit with Vera while Jay took Sam to the altar room on the first floor. Starlight scrambled into the room before they closed the door.

"Shoo," Sam gently said to the kitten. She looked up at him with a pathetic expression and softly mewled. Jay just looked amused.

"Let her stay, she isn't going to hurt anything." Jay said. "It's probably best that she's here so she can learn with you."

"Are you sure it's okay that we're in here?" Sam asked nervously. Jay shrugged.

"Yeah, it's fine. It's the ritual room for the coven. This is probably the safest room in the house for you." Sam did notice that it felt like Vera's office, like it was muffled or sound proofed. He couldn't feel anyone else besides Jay, and he could barely feel him.

"Why can I barely feel you and your aunt?" Sam asked cautiously.

"Because we use good shields. That's both for our benefit and other peoples. We can affect people, even hurt them if we aren't careful, but I'm sure you've figured that out." Jay lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I've had about four people bitch me out about that." Sam said as he looked down at the floor and rubbed the back of his neck. Jay punched him lightly on the arm. 

"Hey man, it happens. Just be glad Aunt Vera pulled back in time and your brother kept both of you pretty well grounded. He's just as amazing as you are in his own way." The compliment just embarrassed Sam more. He looked up and realized for the first time that Jay was almost as tall as he was. For some reason he found himself blushing. Being tall and dark-haired must run in their family. He looked around the room hoping to distract himself from the younger man.

If Vera's office abounded with strange things he could almost see, this place was crammed with them. He noticed that this room had been completely renovated already. There were four altars, one against each wall and one in the center of the room. Each altar had a sheathed sword hanging on the wall above it. The altars themselves were covered with stones, feathers, cups, bowls, books, pinecones, flowers and an occasional knife. There were so many things on the edge of his vision he kept whipping his head around to try to see them before they disappeared. Then he heard Jay laughing.

"Hey, don't give yourself whiplash. You're just seeing the wards and sigils that the coven has put up. You'll learn how to see those later on. Right now you need to start on the basics so you don't hurt anyone or get hurt yourself!"

"Are you sure it's safe…" Sam began.

"Yeah," Jay said, cutting him off. "You might be strong, but I've been training since I was a kid and I'm not exhausted like Aunt Vera. I also know what's up with you and that you feel bad about what happened with her. You're cautious now, and that's good. You need to be!"

They settled onto the floor, sitting cross-legged on yoga mats as Jay explained the basics of grounding, centering and shielding. Sam felt a great deal of relief as he began to learn how to keep himself in the here and now and not let his mind drift or be distracted by other people's thoughts and emotions. Starlight snuggled down in his lap and went to sleep.

Jay was a surprisingly patient teacher and Sam was glad he was able to start learning before Vera recovered. They were beginning to do a little energy work so he could learn how to work with other psychics, mainly so they could help him shield until he was able to do it completely on his own. Unfortunately he started having a problem. He was beginning to find himself very sexually aroused, and it was pretty obvious through his light summer shorts. Sam dared a quick glance at Jay's crotch. He wasn't having the problem Sam was.

Jay suddenly broke off his explanations of energy work and cleared his throat.

"Hey man, its okay. This happens sometimes when you're first learning how to do energy work with other people. Maybe I should have let Aunt Vera teach you this part."

"Uh, no. This is embarrassing enough with you; I can't imagine how it would be with her." Now Jay seemed a little embarrassed.

"Well, you probably wouldn't have had this problem with her because, well, she's so much older than you. I know you just realized that you're psychic recently, but how long have you known you were bi?" Sam was thunderstruck. Was that why he was having dreams about men? It was because he was bi, not straight and just trying to find a "safe" sexual outlet that didn't make him feel guilty about Jess?

Sam still had a raging hard on. He hadn't been able to masturbate since Jessica's death. He had to know. Sam leaned in close to kiss Jay. Jay moved a little to make it easier for him, but he was obviously letting Sam be in control.

Jay's lips were firm but soft, and as they slid their tongues past each other, Sam noticed that Jay tasted of the orange he had eaten earlier in the day. His mouth was warm and sweet, silky smooth except for the tantalizing texture of his tongue. Jay slid his hand gently into the hair on the back of Sam's head, not pressing but gently caressing his scalp. These soft gestures awakened emotions in Sam that he had not felt in a long time.

Sam broke away abruptly, gasping. Jay did not pursue him but lightly stroked Sam's cheek as he pulled his hand from his hair. Sam looked at Jay, but he was only smiling softly, as if he were trying not to scare him.

"I, um, I need a break," Sam managed to get out. He could feel that he was now leaking in his shorts.

"It's okay." Jay said in an almost normal sounding voice. "Like I said, it happens sometimes." Getting up so abruptly that Starlight protested Sam made his way to the bathroom almost directly across the hall.

He closed and locked the door behind him, still very aroused and confused. He shucked his shorts and boxers and pulled a towel out of the bathroom storage closet. He noticed a bottle of organic bath oil and pulled that out too. He turned on the shower to cover any noise he made. Then he put down the towel on the floor and sat on it, his back against the wall.

He poured a generous amount of oil onto his hand to warm it slightly before using it to coat his cock and balls. Sam noticed that the oil smelled of lavender. He didn't mind, everyone here seemed to use it and he was beginning to like the scent. He stroked himself for a few moments before spreading the oil to his perineum, and after slouching slightly, to his ass.

Just touching his anus made him moan, it definitely felt good. His cock jumped as he did so, and Sam felt more aroused than he had outside of a dream since Jess died. Stroking his cock faster, he slowly wriggled his index finger to just inside his ass, gently moving it around as he did so. His breath hitched as he began to sweat, and his balls were beginning to draw up. The scent of lavender filled his nostrils and the wall tiles were cool against his shoulder blades. Encouraged by the good feelings of his finger in his ass, he began to slowly pull it in and out, going a little deeper each time. Sam began to whimper, making a pitiful sound, desperately hoping that this time he would get the release he so desperately needed. He thought he'd die if he didn't. He pumped his cock faster while fingering his ass deeper and more daringly, beginning to sob, tears rolling down his cheeks. Finally, almost pumping his entire index finger into his ass, Sam hit something that made him scream and arch his back, his voice echoing slightly off the bathroom walls. With that scream his balls tightened and his cock started twitching violently, shooting his seed all over his stomach, hand and floor. Sam gasped and laid there for a moment, still sobbing slightly.

Oh God. Jessica was dead. That demon from the airplane said she was still burning. Her death must have been an agony, an agony she could still be feeling. He should have told her. He could have stopped it. He shouldn't have tried to have a normal life. Dean was right; they couldn't have friends in the "normal" world. At least they found out about the other Hunters and Guardians.

That only made him feel worse. As long as he and Dean had been hunting on their own, the isolation, the pain, the act of saving others was the only thing that quieted his guilt. Sam realized that he had been throwing himself into Hunting, caring for Dean, or whatever work there was to do to justify continuing to live. Even using his abilities was a kind of penance; if he would have accepted them sooner he could have saved Jess. He was so far into denial about the reality of his past to notice a supernatural threat to someone he loved.

Now he was sitting on a bathroom floor after jerking off. Jessica was dead, it was his fault and he was enjoying himself. How could he make himself feel so good when he was responsible for her death?

"The ruler cannot mobilize the army out of personal anger. The general cannot engage in battle because of personal frustration. When it is advantageous, move; when not advantageous, stop. Anger can revert to happiness, annoyance can revert to joy, but a vanquished state cannot be revived, the dead cannot be brought back to life."

Dean frowned at the passage. He found a book in the office downstairs called The Art of War. Old Rattler and Nora Bonesteel had both convinced him how important it was to be a good leader for his Hunt group, and this looked like a good book to read while he sat with Vera. They were in a war of sorts against demons, ghosts, and other evil creatures. Some of it seemed to apply, some of it didn't, but it was certainly worth the read.

Vera still looked like hell, but she wasn't so pale. Shade was still snuggled up to Vera, and in her sleep Vera had wrapped her arms around the cat and held her like a baby. Dean felt uncomfortable, and decided to make a point of not mentioning it to anyone. Shade purred softly the entire time. 

Griffin was in his lap. He liked to be there any time Dean sat down. Dean looked down into the eyes of his half-grown familiar, still not sure what to do with him. He never really thought of himself as a cat person. Jay suggested he get a cat harness and train him to stay with him since Griffin obviously was going to follow him everywhere.

Griffin looked over at Shade. "Dean is weirded out with the way Vera is cuddling with you. He feels sorry for her because she can't have kittens." Shade stopped purring long enough to snort.

"Like I said, he is not very psychic and he doesn't understand us. Most humans sleep with their familiars like this. He is being too sensitive about something that doesn't bother Vera at all. I still say you could have done better. As it is, you've bonded with him. You have a lot to teach him. I wish little Starlight wouldn't have bonded with his brother. I'm worried that she is too young and he'll hurt her." Griffin lay his head down submissively. Griffin was worried for Starlight as well. Sam was a very strong psychic. Griffin had considered the younger brother, but decided he was too much for him to handle. Starlight was so young and so tiny, and she had almost died a moon and a half ago. How could she be strong enough for Sam?

Dean shook his head. The animals around here were just as odd as the people. He could have sworn Griffin and Shade just had a conversation. He was still feeling uneasy, but he wasn't sure why. He glanced at Vera, but she was still deeply asleep. Griffin began to stir in his lap. Dean looked down at him; his familiar seemed to be feeling uneasy, too. Dean looked around the room, trying to identify a threat. Was there something wrong with Sam?

Just as Dean thought this, little Starlight ran into the room, meowing pitifully. Griffin jumped out of his lap and ran to her.

"Star! What's wrong?" Griffin asked as he began grooming her to get her to calm down.

"Sam is really sad! I can't get to him! He closed a door! I called and called, but he wouldn't let me in!"

Sam was supposed to be training with Jay in the altar room right now. Yet his little familiar comes running in here squalling, while Griffin is trying to calm her down. Dean's instincts were screaming something was wrong. He just barely remembered to put the book down quietly before bolting downstairs.

When he got downstairs he made a beeline for the altar room. He saw Jay leaning in the doorway with a concerned expression on his face. Jay pointed to the bathroom; Dean could now hear Sammy crying over the sound of the shower. Starlight had followed and was scratching at the bathroom door. Griffin and Shade were with her. Dean pounded on the door while trying the doorknob. It was locked. Of course.

"Sammy, open up," Dean shouted through the door.

"Go away!" Sam yelled back.

"Sammy, open up or I'm coming through the door." Dean felt a tap on his shoulder and whirled around to see Jay. He blinked; he'd forgotten Jay was there.

"What did you do to him?" Dean hissed. Jay frowned and motioned him to come into the altar room. Dean bent down to scoop up Starlight before following him.

"Look man," Jay began with a grim look, "you have got to realize that the two of us are the only stable ones in the house right now. It's going to take Aunt Vera a few days to recover, and it's going to take Sam a lot longer. He's dealing with being psychic, your dad dying, seeing his girlfriend die and realizing he's bi all within six months. A few quick lessons just ain't gonna do it. Y'all had better get used to being here. I just wish Auntie Sahba were here." 

Dean gaped at him for a moment. Sam was having a breakdown. Again. Just how long was it going to take to fix him? And what does Sahba have to do with anything?

"Why do you want Sahba here?" Dean asked.

"She has a Masters in Psych," Jay paused a moment. "I think Sam needs that. Why do you think that this is such a good teaching coven?"

"I know your aunt teaches, but the entire coven does?" Jay looked at him oddly.

"Yeah, Aunt Vera knows most of the ritual and deep psychic stuff, Auntie Sahba can provide professional counseling, Auntie Emma is good with earth magic and herbalism, and Uncle Jeremy does a lot with animal totems and familiars. When I'm around I tend to teach the basics 'cause I'm the newest and can understand better how new people feel. Didn't she tell you all this?" Dean pinched the bridge of his nose and fought to keep his temper, Starlight's small form sitting in one hand and huddled against his chest.

"No, but right now what's going on with Sammy?" 

Jay reddened. "Um, when you're first learning energy work, it can be…very intense. Sometimes new people…"

"Just tell me!" Dean yelled. Jay cringed. Starlight made a pitiful sound. Dean took a deep calming breath.

"Okay, I didn't realize that your brother was bi at first and he got a hard on from the energy work. Next thing I know he's kissing me, and then he freaks out and runs to the bathroom and turns on the shower."

Dean glared at him in fury, his eyes narrowed.

"Hey man, don't look at me like that." Jay snapped, getting pissed off too. "Don't blame me for Sam suppressing his abilities and sexuality for most of his life. He's so open right now and this room is so well warded I could be screwing his brains out in here and you'd never know." 

Dean rocked back on his heels like he'd been punched in the face, his eyes wide. Jay noticed that Dean paled; even his lips were going white. Jay realized that he was blaming himself for his brother's problems.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I probably shouldn't have said all that. He's here now. He's going to be okay. We just need to teach him the basics until the rest of the coven gets back and he has the whole team working on him. You've got to keep him grounded. Sam is going to be having meltdowns like this from time to time. Don't think just because he's had a few good days that he doesn't need anymore help. Just follow your instincts. You're just as strong of a ground as he is a psychic. Let me find a screwdriver so you can open the door if you don't want to wait for him to calm down." Jay grasped his shoulder for a moment before running out of the room and down the hall.

Dean took a deep breath. What Jay had just told him was a mixture of bad and good news. He'd figure it out later. Right now Sammy needed him.

Dean put Starlight down and tried not to trip over Griffin. He walked back to the bathroom. Starlight was squalling again. She could make a hell of a lot of racket for such a little thing. Shade seemed to be trying to calm her by pinning her with a paw and grooming her.

"Sammy I'm coming in. Star is out here having a fit so she is too." Dean wasn't sure why he felt the need to include Star, but he just felt like it was right. Sam didn't respond except to sob harder.

"Fuck it," Dean muttered and broke the flimsy bathroom door open with a hard slam of his shoulder. Starlight streaked in as soon as the door opened enough for her to squeeze through. Sam scrambled to his feet to push Dean back out the door. But he stumbled over Griffin and fell right into Dean's arms. Dean was beginning to see the usefulness of familiars. He'd have to remember to praise Griffin after he got Sam calmed down.

Dean dumped Sam back into the floor where it looked like he'd been sitting on a towel. Staring down at him Dean was stunned to see he was nude from the waist down. Crap. What sort of fresh hell was going on with him now? He snagged another towel out of the closet and threw it over Sam's lap to cover him, checked to be sure Griffin, Shade and Star were out of the way and then kicked the door closed. Dean was glad the door had given way around the door handle but was still on its hinges so he could close it. He was sure this was embarrassing enough to Sam without Jay seeing this too. He quickly turned off the shower.

Sam was crying even harder now, almost hysterical. Dean forced himself to take a deep breath and take a look at the situation. Sam didn't look like he was physically hurt. He was sitting on a towel with his back against the wall. There was a spilled bottle of some sort of oil with a flowery scent Dean couldn't quite place. He picked the bottle up and closed it. There was semen on the floor, confirming a suspicion he had. Why was his little bro having a melt down over taking care of a hard on?

Before Dean could do anything else he heard Jay in the hallway.

"Shit! You didn't have to break the door! I have a fucking screwdriver! Aunt Vera is going…"

"Do you think I care?" Dean yelled, turning away from Sam and towards the door. Jay had just begun to push it open when Dean shoved it closed again. "Get lost for a while, I need to get Sammy straightened out!"

"Shit," Jay muttered before Dean heard him walk away.

Dean sat down cross-legged in the floor in front of his brother. Griffin nestled down in his lap, watching Star intently. Sammy had calmed down enough where he'd almost stopped crying. Shade settled down in Sam's lap.

"Okay Sammy, what's going on?" Dean kept his voice sympathetic but very matter of fact. Sam shook his head, lips firmly pressed together.

"Sammy, c'mon, let me know what's going on." After a few gulps Sam managed to stop sobbing, but tears were still occasionally sliding down his face.

"I don't want to talk about it." He picked up Starlight and cuddled her, stroking her ears and head, concentrating on his kitten rather than look at his brother.

"You broke off your first training session, locked yourself in the bathroom and cried for over fifteen minutes. You don't get a choice about talking." Dean decided to use what Jay told him and tried another tactic.

"Did Jay hurt you?" Dean asked slapping on his scowl and making his voice take on that 'I'll kill anyone who messes with my little brother' tone Sammy should know from when they were kids. Dean didn't really think Jay hurt him; he was just saying it to try to get him to open up. Sun-Tzu said something about using unorthodox tactics against the enemy. Dean shifted a little uncomfortably. His brother wasn't "the enemy", but there was a sort of conflict between them. Were all psychics this damned closed mouthed? Sam finally met Dean's eyes.

"No."

"Then what happened? I don't understand all this psychic stuff. I need to know if he hurt you."

"Things just got really intense and I freaked, okay? It's no big."

"Sam, I need to know what is going on with you. I'm supposed to be able to help you." His little brother actually blushed. Starlight nuzzled his cheek.

"Things just got a little intense and I needed some time to myself." Sam mumbled.

Dean put his face in one hand for a moment before looking up. He didn't think he could take much more of this. Between Vera and Sammy he was about to start throwing things. Dean knew that it was very important he kept his temper; if Sam picked up on it he knew it would hurt him. A thought occurred to Dean. He was supposed to be a little psychic; could he learn to shield like more powerful psychics to keep Sammy away from his more negative emotions? He'd have to ask Vera when she was awake.

"So things got intense, you kissed Jay, freaked out, went to the bathroom and jerked off, and then started crying hysterically. Did I get that right?" Dean could see that Sammy was getting more upset. Starlight reacted by crying again. Time to change tactics.

"Try to keep it together. Starlight was squalling for you the entire time you were locked in here. She came and got me. You need to think about her too, okay?" Sammy blinked. Dean could tell changing tactics was keeping him off balance. This was more likely to get him to talk than badgering him.

"Star came to you?" Sam asked softly.

"Yeah, remember what Jay said about familiars? They can feel you. Star is really young. You need to work on the psychic stuff so you don't upset her." Sam looked down at his tiny familiar and snuggled her closer to his chest. The little white kitten climbed onto his shoulder and began sucking on his t-shirt.

Shade looked over at Griffin, who was still sitting in Dean's lap. "I am surprised. Dean seems to have a bit more sense that I credited him with. Perhaps you have not chosen too badly." Griffin just purred in response, glad that the alpha familiar had almost complimented him.

"Hey, let's just get you cleaned up and go someplace where were not sitting on a hard-assed tile floor, okay? Need some help?" Dean asked. Sam somehow managed to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"No, I'll be out in a minute." He said, looking down and to the side, avoiding both Dean and Shade's gazes.

"Okay, but I'm standing right outside the door."

After Sam came out Dean grabbed his arm and guided him into the living room. Dean was getting upset seeing his brother acting so passive. They sat down on the couch. Their familiars followed them, Griffin settling in Dean's lap and Sam picking up Starlight to cuddle her. Shade stuck like glue to Sam's side, watching Starlight.

"Dude, you need to tell me what is going on. What happened? Jay told me his side. I'm your brother and I've already told you I don't care if you're gay or bi. We've been over this. Everyone has said we have to be upfront with one another." Sam stared down at the floor.

"She's dead," he whispered. "She's dead because I was trying so hard to be normal, even though I knew I wasn't. If I'd stayed with you and Dad I'd have never met her and she'd still be alive. Maybe if I stayed Dad would still be alive. Hell, if I had paid attention to my dreams she'd still be alive." Sam looked up at Dean and swallowed. "I was happy to find out about other Guardians and Hunters Dean, and she's dead." His voice cracked on the last word. "I shouldn't be happy! I don't deserve it," Sam's voice had taken on a note of hysteria and he was shaking, but not actually sobbing.

Sam looked back down to escape his brother's piercing stare. After a few moments of silence Dean reached out and forced his brother's head up. Acting on instinct he reached out with his other hand and tapped him hard in the center of his forehead.

"We both know there's more." Sam tried to lower his head again but Dean held his head firmly up. Sammy swallowed hard again.

"Since Jess died…" Sam began, but then closed his eyes. After a few moments Dean tapped him on the forehead again. Sam's eyes popped back open. "I haven't been able to…" he faltered a few moments before continuing again. "Outside of being asleep…" Dean could see where this was heading and decided to help him out.

"But 'cause of the training you were doing with Jay you could?" Sam nodded slightly into Dean's palm, a strange look of embarrassment and relief on his face. He began blushing a deep red, which just made Starlight stand out against his face even more distinctly. Dean released Sam's jaw and hung his head and closed his eyes. Griffin lightly pawed Dean's face, as if trying to comfort him.

"Sammy," he began, sounding like every word was being dragged out of him with hot tongs. "I think Dad was wrong about a lot of things. Other Hunters tried talking to Dad when we were little. I think they knew you were a psychic and wanted to help you. Dad wouldn't let them. I think there was more to you leaving than you realize. I think all the things we were Hunting were driving you crazy. I think deep down you knew and that's why you left. You've only been back Hunting for about six months and if it wasn't for Nora, Vera and Rattler I'd have taken you to a mental hospital by now. I think if Dad had gotten tight with other Hunters he would still be alive because he didn't know nearly as much as he thought he did. If he had let the other Hunters help, you'd have known what your dreams were about, even if you wanted a normal life." Dean swallowed, and said something he never thought he would. "Sammy, if it was anyone's fault, it was Dad's, not yours."

Sam stared at his brother. Dean tried to hold it together, but he felt tears gathering behind his eyes. When he raised his head and looked at Sammy he lost it. Dean couldn't believe how fucked up his little brother was because their Dad had let both of them down.

Next thing Dean knew all the familiars backed off and he and Sammy were crying and hugging each other like when they were kids. By the time they were calmed down, Jay walked in with three steaming mugs of tea. Dean wiped his face and wondered how long he'd been standing there.

"Lavender, chamomile and mint," Jay said as he handed them out and then raised his mug as if in a toast.

"To all psychics and grounds, Hunters and Guardians, and most especially our well-meaning but screwed-up parental units." That wrung a weak but genuine laugh from the Winchester brothers. It was the best possible toast under the circumstances. A sudden thought struck Dean.

"Dude, who's your ground?' Jay gave him a twisted, one-sided smile.

"It was my Dad."

Shit. Another psychic who could go off on him at any time.

After a simple dinner, Jay and Sam went out to the back porch to talk. Dean strongly suspected that the two of them had the hots for each other but it was bothering Sammy. Well, if his little bro was going to have a fling with a guy he could do a lot worse.

Dean went back to Vera's room to sit with her until she woke up. Shade was curled up with her again but Griffin had trotted off to look after his own affairs. Dean felt guilty about forgetting to praise him for tripping Sammy at a strategic time. He was sure that his fluffy familiar knew he needed the help.

Strategy. Sun-Tzu was definitely leaving a mark on him. Well, the tactics had helped him with Sammy. With an absolutely evil smirk he decided what tactics to use with Vera. Sun-Tzu said only fight when you knew you could be victorious. To be victorious you must know both yourself and your enemy.

Well, he had certainly learned a lot about himself and Sammy recently. He also knew that he had found out a lot more about Vera than she realized. He also knew that he was following his Tao, or his Way in the Universe. Vera was resisting hers by not wanting to take up her Guardian duties. His enemy was certainly weak, in disarray and he was in position to make a sneak attack. Sun-Tzu also said that destroying your enemy was second best to capturing both their human and material resources for your own use.

This was a battle he was certain to win. A perfect victory. He just had to wait for the opportune moment.


	10. Dreams and Visions

**Rating/Warning:** Mature (NC-17), Warnings for story overall. Swearing (most chapters). Rape and torture chapters have separate warnings. Character deaths (Ballad novels/OCs). Sex--both hetero and homosexual.

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 10: Dreams and Visions**

**Summary:** Rattler, Nora, Vera, Sam and the Wake County Sheriff's Department all have to face some uncomfortable realities.

**Note: The language and speech patterns reflect the dialect of Eastern Tennessee**

Nora Bonesteel sat in her living room, hands still for once, looking out over the mountains. She had a special supper cooking in the kitchen. Once again she was waiting for a visitor. She was not dreading this visitor coming to see her, but she was dreading his leaving. Nora knew she should not let her mind dwell on it, but after almost seven decades it was nigh impossible. A sharp tap on her screen door alerted her that Rattler had arrived. She tried, but a smile would not come to her lips.

Rattler and Nora sat down to their meal, begun with a prayer as always. They did not discuss what was coming, at least not at first. Old Rattler finally brought up the subject.

"Got a ride into town today from Sissy Morgan. I saw Zek Phillips to get all the papers in order," Rattler said quietly.

"You found all the information you needed?" Nora asked a little surprised.

"Ravenmocker helped me." Nora's eyebrows rose.

"He usually doesn't take note of such like."

"No," Rattler agreed, "but he did this oncet 'cause it's near the end."

Nora bowed her head for a moment. They had worked together for over seventy years now. She knew that he would probably go before her, but now that she was faced with it the sorrow almost overwhelmed even her. Nora had been nursed on the sorrows of life from a young child. She had the Sight powerful and early and she had seen too much, too young for her to want to have the burdens of a family in addition to her duties. It was only now at the end of her life did she want the security of family and took joy in little Kayla and her parents Clayt and Kelly. Nora Bonesteel knew that she would also have Dean and Sammy as well as the new Guardians now, but none of them could replace Old Rattler.

"I'll miss you," she said simply. Anything else would cheapen how she felt. Rattler smiled.

"I know you will, and I'll be a'missin you. We'll only be apart for a few years. Take joy in the young 'uns. That's the only thing I envy you for. I'd like to spend some more time with those boys." Nora laughed.

"I wish you'd be here to help me deal with them. We both know they're going to be a handful and a half. Dean and Vera are going to squabble 'til their last breath, for all they'll come to love each other as family. Little Sammy is going to take a bit of work to find his way and get his feet under him, but he'll be good in the end." She closed her eyes, feeling tears coming. "Why does it have to be that way?" She whispered brokenly. She felt Rattler take her hand.

"I'm not a 'fearin it Nora," he said. "I'll be a 'goin the way all old warriors want. Besides, my death and my blood will anoint and baptize a new warrior. We both know that," Rattler said gently. "I have served with my life, and I'm proud to serve with my death. I might be over eighty, but that doesn't mean my fightin' days are over."

Rattler's expression took on a certain pride. No matter what the pictures at the movie theatres might show, it was not just the young who could fight and protect.

Old warriors were warriors still.

Vera began to wake up and groaned into her pillow.

"Glad you could join us, Sleeping Beauty. I was beginning to wonder if a peck would work or if I'd have to lick your tonsils."

Vera knew that voice. She pulled the blanket over her head. It sounded like her own private nightmare was sitting next to her bed. The blanket was jerked off. Vera looked up and glared at the all too cocky pretty boy who had helped turn her life upside down. The son of a bitch was smirking. She desperately wished she had the energy to punch him in the middle of his face and break his pretty little nose. Vera settled with cramming her pillow over her head. Maybe if she ignored him he would go away. Vera felt her pillow being pulled out of her hands.

"Sweetheart, we need to talk."

"Quit calling me that you gel-headed moron," she snapped as she flipped over in bed. Gods, she still had a headache and her back hurt from lying in bed for so long. What time was it?

"Denial is not a river in Egypt, so why don't you try to keep up with the conversation? My little bro is wigging out and there's a demon roaming around out there. Communication is what we need right now, not more 'tude."

"Real original Dean. When did you get your Ph.D. in psych?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "When are you going to admit you're a Guardian?"

Vera covered her face with her hands. "Why me?" She groaned.

"Don't know, doesn't matter. Get your shit together, 'cause a lot of people need you, including Sammy. How'd you feel if you needed someone to help Jay and they wouldn't?"

Vera literally jumped. Dean had touched a raw nerve.

"You tried calling Hunters, and you got me and Sammy. We aren't what you wanted, but we're what you've got. You certainly act like a Guardian trying to bring down this damned thing and not just protecting yourself and your coven. In a lot of ways you are acting like a Guardian, now just admit you are one and get over it. Quit being so damned stubborn."

Vera was on the verge of tears again. Damn it, she did not want this, but he was right. Her denials last night to Nora Bonesteel had been panic, not a refusal.

Deep down she knew she was a Guardian, but unlike someone younger who might revel in the thought of a life of adventure, Vera knew what being a Guardian meant. It was constant danger, not excitement. It was stress, not adventure. It was more sacrifice than glory. The lifetime she had spent getting herself through school, finding a job she loved and building this farm with her coven had been shattered and she did not like the way her new life was coming together.

And the Goddess-be-damned harbinger of the destruction of her life was a young punk that currently had his biker boot clad feet propped up on her bed. Fuck it, if she was going to get stuck with being a Guardian she would start doing it on her terms. She kicked Dean's feet off her bed and swung her legs around as she sat up and then gripped her head to try to stop the pain. It was bearable now, she could think.

"Fine," she gritted out. "Then I need to get up and get things done."

"Sorry sweetheart, all you're going to do is rest. Lay back down. You need to be able to train Sammy. He's having problems learning from Jay."

Vera was about to kill him. Sweetheart! Problems with Jay? Hell, she'd figure that out later.

"My back is killing me from staying in bed so long and I need to take a shower. I can damned well make myself something to eat and I want to go out to the garden." 

Dean frowned, but then stood up and offered his hand to help her get up. When they clasped each other's wrist she felt something, like a key in a lock. From the look on Dean's face she could tell he had felt it as well. Vera had a brief glimpse of the future; the same one Sam had last night. Being a Guardian was not going to be all loneliness, grief, sorrows, danger and sacrifice. There would also be family and love, laughter and support. Vera gave him a tentative smile, which Dean returned before they released each other's wrists.

"Okay sweetheart, but you don't move your ass past the back porch. Just remember I'm in charge until Nora Bonesteel and Old Rattler say otherwise."

Vera snarled and hit him in the face with her pillow. "Jackass."

Dean just laughed.

Spencer, LeDonne, Martha and Kelly were all together at the sheriff's office. The tiny county only had three officers and a full-time dispatcher. A larger neighboring county took care of third shift for them while they rotated first and second shifts between the officers. Kelly worked mainly first shift but would stay on after five if there was an emergency.

"The autopsies came back," Spencer said with no preamble. "Except for the two Lee College kids, all of the other deaths appear to be from natural causes. All from dehydration, heart attack or stroke. The college kids, one male and the other female, both show signs of rape and torture before being strangled. All the others show signs of sexual activity and have been posed in a ritualistic manner to look like they are masturbating. We have two obvious murders, four bodies that look like homicides but the medical evidence doesn't back it up, and two people reported missing. Anyone have any ideas?"

Martha shook her head, even more sober than usual.

"We need to say something without causing a panic. The two missing persons reports are on hikers and they may not be anywhere near Wake County at all. The two homicides should be enough to keep people out of the woods. The others…we just need to keep looking at those," Martha reasoned.

LeDonne grunted. "Are we sure those two brothers don't have anything to do with this?"

Spencer and Martha both shook their heads. "No, they were in Chattanooga when the homicides occurred. We know this because Vera Kesterson said that they were with her nephew Jay and we have been able to account for most their time since they've been here. I think we need to just try to keep people out of the woods for now." Spencer paused, his eyes thoughtful. "There is a lot of wilderness area in the national park, not to mention all the little caves, it's hard to mount a search. Old Rattler and Clayt probably know the area better than anyone. Kelly, do you think that Clayt would be willing to help out?"

"You know he would in a heartbeat," Kelly replied. Her voice carried the softer drawl of western Tennessee rather than the almost lilting accent of the mountains. 

Spencer was relieved. Most people who spent a lot of time in the woods only did so as sportsman, just for deer and turkey hunting or fishing. Old Rattler prowled the woods hunting many types of animals, fishing and herb gathering. He still depended on the wilderness to live. Clayt Stargill was a nature and history fanatic and had been prowling the woods following rare native butterflies and photographing endangered plants since he was a child. Between the two of them they had spent more time in the woods than most of the county. They knew almost all aspects of the wilderness around them, not just how to avoid bears and hunt in the fall. If anyone could help them uncover physical evidence of what was going on in the wilderness around them they could.

"Momma?" Kelly whirled around in her chair to see her 10-year-old daughter Kayla opening the door of the office.

"Kayla honey, I told you to be doing your homework. I'm almost done and then we can go home and you can feed the chickens." Kelly thanked God for the thousandth time that she had married Clayt and he was such a good daddy. Her hand rubbed across her bulging belly, feeling her baby boy moving.

"But Momma, I got a bad feeling. Mamaw Nora always says to pay attention to those."

The atmosphere in the office went from tense to icy. Kelly was beginning to come to terms with her daughter's talents thanks to Clayt and Nora.

For Martha, it was one of those things you knew happened but it was an unspoken rule that you did not talk about it, kind of like your parents having sex. Spencer went pale. After a brush with death a few years ago he knew all too well how real psychic ability was thanks to help from Nora. LeDonne had his own brush with death and psychics last year when Old Rattler rescued him from a bizarre situation. 

For Spencer and LeDonne both it was just one strange incident out of their lives so it was easier to bury it in denial than actually admit that the supernatural was out there. They both had enough problems with regular criminal activity let alone ghosts to the roster of job dangers.

"We'll go see Mamaw Nora soon, honey, okay?" Kelly said softly.

Sam found himself standing on the banks of a river. Unlike the bright colors of the current season of late summer, the leaves here had taken on the colors of high autumn. The time of harvest. The trees were all yellows, reds, russets, browns and oranges. Leaves danced through the air on soft, warm winds that nonetheless had a cold edge. The sun was slanting its sunlight from the west, and storm clouds were beginning to build to the south.

Rattler was standing besides him. The old Guardian reached up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Son," he said, "I'm sorry to have to leave you so soon. None of us expected this. Just remember that the future ain't fixed. Just 'cause you See it doesn't mean it won't be a'changin on you. Tell your brother that I'm a' sorry I won't be there for him, but a few other folks are on their way. I left you a legacy, but you have to share it with your brother."

Rattler walked into the river, and as he did so the waters turned blood red. Once he was up to his waist in bloody water he turned back towards the bank Sam stood on. The sunlight glittered on the water as Rattler stretched out his hand, beckoning to someone on Sam's right. Sam looked and saw a figure, wearing what looked like a brown uniform. Other than that, he could not tell if the person was male or female.

In the next moment, Rattler was baptizing the figure in the bloody water. Sam could not see what was happening since Rattler's body was blocking the view. The moment Rattler pulled the person out of water Sam heard an angry scream that sent shivers down his spine.

The person in the river with Rattler abruptly disappeared. Rattler turned to Sam and smiled. "Don't be scared, little Sammy. You have a chance at a good life. Someone else will be a 'visitin you tonight."

Rattler looked to the other side of the river. There was a tall Native American man standing there, grinning broadly. Rattler laughed.

"Ravenmocker! I should have known!"

"After everything, Little Brother, do you think I would leave this task to anyone else? Just because I do not blind you does not mean that I am not also a Being of Light. Unlike some of my brethren, I have no need of prisms, wings, halos or rainbows to do my Work." Ravenmocker said the last sentence with disgust.

Ravenmocker looked at Sam for a moment with a serious expression before raising his hand…

Sam felt himself slamming back onto a bed. He looked up to see Jessica on the ceiling, her face fixed and her blood dripping onto his face. Fire burst out from her body, quickly spreading across the ceiling and down the walls. Sam stood on the bed. He began screaming and reaching up, trying to touch Jess, his hands burning from the fire all around her.

"I'm sorry!" He screamed. "I'm so sorry. I should've told you. Oh God, Jessica. I should have stayed with you...I should have stayed and died with you."

Sam could feel blood, sweat and tears literally mingling on his face. His hands and arms were burned to the bone; the smoke was searing his lungs as he stared into Jessica's silent but agonized face, which was the only thing not burning.

Someone touched his arm. All at once the pain and heat stopped, even though he was still in the room with the fire, Jessica still above him Sam looked at his hands. They were whole again, untouched by the fire and his fingers no longer hurt. He turned and found himself face to face with Jessica. She was healthy, beautiful, and smiling.

"That is not me, Sam," she said, motioning to the burning woman on the ceiling. "I am not here," she continued. "This is only in your mind. I'm not in pain. I've Gone on." Jess said all this simply. "I knew you were hurting and I wanted to help but I didn't want to make it worse for you by seeing me still Walking. I talked to Nora, and she helped me realize that I needed to Cross over." She paused again, her smile brilliant.

"They Came for me when I Called them. Oh Sam, I wish you could have seen it! They are so beautiful. I haven't Chosen what to do next, they have given me so many options I want to think about it. It is a great Honor, some of the things they have offered. So great." Her eyes shone for a moment, like sapphires surrounded by opals.

"Just remember that I have loved you Sam, and I still do. Earthly love falls away, but love of the Soul is deeper, and my Soul loves you. I Chose this, I Chose it for you. You have the chance to do many great things, you and your brother. You will probably be offered the same Choices I have been given when you Cross. Don't turn away new Love simple because we have Shared it. After this I can't Touch your Life anymore Sam, not this one. It is forbidden. The Veil must be kept Intact. I will see you on the Other Side when it is your Time."

Sam felt her brush tears off of his face, as he stared at her dumbfounded. He did not understand everything she was saying to him.

"I'd like to say that I'll be Watching you Sam, but I won't. You need to live your life secure in my Love for you, but without worrying about my judgment. This," Jessica said, gesturing with her hand to indicate not only the burning room around them but the circumstances of her death "is not your fault. You can never blame yourself for the actions of evil. You did not understand your dreams then, and you barely do now. You must forgive yourself. I would say that I forgive you, but there never was anything for me to forgive."

She smiled and then brushed her lips delicately across Sam's cheek. "You need to wake up now. Your brother, your teacher and your familiar are all terrified for you. Remember that you still have those who Love you."


	11. A Pagan's Prayer

**Summary:** Dean and Vera begin to understand one another.

"No Dean, don't wake him!" Vera whispered furiously. "I told you, there is a presence here, and it's communicating with him!" Her quiet reassurances did not satisfy Dean.

"I know there's a ghost in here," Dean growled loudly, "my scanner is going off the freaking map. Sam's stuck in another nightmare. What makes you so sure it's not hurting him?"

Sam had gone to bed early and Dean found him groaning in his sleep. He could not understand why Starlight had not come to get him this time. He, Vera and Jay were all standing huddled around the bed while Star, Griffin and Shade were curled up around Sam's sleeping form. Sam was tossing slightly in his sleep, muttering now and then, but nothing was understandable other than a word or two.

"You think what I did to your cabin was a lot? I did all of that in about a half hour with only ten minutes planning. The entire coven has been building wards around the farm for months now. Nothing other than benevolent spirits can enter. Beelzebub himself couldn't bother a blade of grass out in the pasture." Vera hissed back.

"You sound pretty damned sure of yourself for someone who was saying that they weren't strong enough to be a Guardian Friday night!" Dean snarled.

"Then you'll also remember that Nora Bonesteel said that I know what I'm doing and I'm one of the best trainers out there. Sam's familiar isn't trying to wake him. Griffin and Shade are in here too. Look at them! There is a reason that we have familiars and you're looking at it right now! They're grounding and comforting him. Just wait! I'm not even sure we could wake him. He might be trancing."

"Why are they so mad?" Starlight asked from where she was curled on Sam's pillow, practically on top of his head. Dean was upsetting her far more than Sam was. Shade snorted.

"Dean doesn't seem to understand every psychic dream your human has isn't a nightmare or attack of some sort. I'm beginning to worry more about Dean hurting you than Sam. Dean needs training just as badly as Sam does right now in my opinion. Griffin, get over there and calm your human down. I can take care of little Starlight."

Griffin made a little meep of acknowledgement before getting up from cuddling against Sam's hip and walked to Dean. He smacked at Dean's hand and trilled at him until he picked him up.

"What does that mean?" Dean asked anxiously, looking down at Griffin.

"It means that Griffin is more worried about you than Sam," Jay said crankily.

There was a sudden wave of blistering heat that flashed through the room before it was gone. Sam started screaming. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry. I should've told you. Oh God, Jessica. I should have stayed with you...I should have stayed and died with you…"

"Shit!" Dean yelled and tried to throw himself onto his brother with Griffin still in his arms. Vera grabbed his arm in a surprisingly strong grip to keep him from lunging onto the bed.

"Wait!" Vera hissed again. Shade jumped onto Sam's chest, Star was still perched on the pillow at his head.

"Jess?" Sam's voice was confused, but not tortured. Dean stopped himself from dropping his familiar and ripping his arm from Vera's grip. He had never heard Sam use that tone when speaking of Jessica in his sleep. Vera released his arm.

A moment later Dean felt an unseen hand gently stroke his lips once, as if to silence him. Griffin made a chittering sound and squirmed from his grip to run back to Sam. Shade began purring deep in her chest.

"Oh!" Star cried out. "She is so pretty! Who is she, Shade? I have never seen anyone like her!" Star's eyes began to reflect light from a source that the humans could not see. She was so excited that she forgot her usually deferential tone to the alpha.

"She is a good Soul who has Passed the Veil," Shade purred with satisfaction. "I'm glad that you and Griffin have the chance to see this. Such Souls do not come back often."

Dean was confused by how the familiars were acting.

"What are they doing?" He whispered. "What are they looking at; why are they purring?"

"They're seeing whatever spirit is here," Vera whispered back. Jay rolled his eyes. Vera pointed to Starlight, whose eyes were glowing. She was purring loudly now, her ears were flattening rhythmically, as if she were being petted. Suddenly the light faded from Starlight's eyes. She snuggled back down against the top of Sam's head and abruptly dropped off to sleep. Sam settled back down himself and seemed to drop off into a deep and relaxed slumber.

"Should we wake him up now?" Dean asked. Vera shrugged.

"I don't think so. He is sleeping well; he might be upset if you woke him from a good sleep. If it is important, he'll remember. Starlight and Shade aren't waking him up," Vera whispered back. "Let's go out to the hall to talk."

"In a situation where you are not sure what to do, watch your and Sam's familiars. They often have good instincts and can see things that most psychics can't without trancing. That is why we say that familiars are gifts from the Gods." Vera said quietly. "They give us love and support, and can complement our abilities."

Shade sauntered out of Sam and Dean's room, purring loudly and wagging her stubby tail in self-satisfaction.

"And they can also be the biggest pains in the ass on the face of the planet. Prima Donna," Vera said as she bent and swept Shade up with a smile. "Let's all go back to bed. Let me know if Sam starts acting odd again." She nodded at Dean and Jay and went back to her bedroom.

It seemed like Dean had just fallen off to sleep when he was awakened by Griffin pawing at his face. The moonlight slanted through the open window, the night air warm and still. Crickets were chirping.

Dean looked over to check Sam and Star, but they were both still deeply sleeping. He rolled over to touch his brother's arm lightly just to reassure himself Sam was fine. Sammy felt strange, as if he was healing from within. It was like a psychologically dislocated joint was gradually shifting back into place. Dean eased himself away from Sam. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb that!

Griffin pawed his face again and jumped to the floor, trilling at him. Dean wondered if his food bowl was empty. Griffin ran to the doorway and trilled again, this time louder.

"Okay, okay, this better be good fur-ball, its freaking two o'clock in the morning," Dean whispered harshly. Griffin gave him a long stare. Dean pulled his jeans on over his boxers.

He followed his familiar downstairs and as he reached the bottom of the stairs he could hear a conversation in the altar room. Griffin pawed his leg and looked up at him before silently walking towards the conversation. Dean slipped quietly down the corridor and into the bathroom with Griffin.

"You should have known better," Vera's voice was authoritative and sharp with disapproval.

"But Aunt Vera! He..." Jay whined.

"You know good and well you are not talking to your aunt right now," Vera commanded.

Dean peeked around the broken bathroom door, the altar room door was open part way. Jay's back was to him and he could see him hang his head.

"Yes, Lady Ashera," came the sullen reply.

Dean narrowed his eyes in thought. Someone had left a message to an Ashera on Vera's voice mail. She was Ashera? Nora said that Vera was a priestess, was Ashera the religious name she had taken? Dean remembered guiltily that no one had told her of Mike's death yet.

"Pyrite, you know that is a line we do not cross. We do not become sexually involved with even the most casual of students! I do not care if he initiated the kiss, you should not have let it happen."

"But he was so scared. I was afraid if I rejected him he'd start repressing again."

Dean could hear pacing but did nit see Vera.

"That is why you never should have tried training Sam in the first place. He is far too powerful for anyone but the most experienced and strongest of us to train. You should never have included Starlight. She is far too young and too weak to try to ground him. She should have been left with Shade or Dean." Dean heard the pacing stop. "If you thought he needed a ground, you should have included Dean." There were a few moments of silence.

"Pyrite, I am suspending you from your teaching duties. You will not dishonor this coven again."

"But Au – Lady Ashera, you can't teach him yet, and he needs it! I can talk to him, it should be okay…"

"No." There was a hint of steel in Vera's voice. Dean could see Jay's head snap up and it looked like he was bracing himself for something.

"I'm worried about you. You've been too tired for too long! Let me help." Jay pleaded.

"No more psychic training, Pyrite, but there is plenty of work to be done. You want to teach, show Sam and Dean the farm routine. They will have to pull their weight; no one is idle here. That's another rule of the farm." Dean could hear Vera pacing again.

"We need to get those Goddess-be-damned demons out there, but the farm is your priority right now. You will not be responsible for chasing after those things." The pacing stopped. "Understood?"

Dean saw Jay shifting his weight slightly, like he wanted to say something more but he nodded instead. 

"Go to bed." Vera dismissed him.

"Good night Lady Ashera," Jay said curtly before leaving the room.

Dean ducked back behind the door and waited for Jay to climb the stairs. Then he slipped out into the hallway, Griffin at his heels. The door to the altar room was open. Vera's back was to Dean. He paused at the doorway, glad Dad had taught him how to move silently. She put both of her hands on the main altar in the center of the room, careful to keep the weight off her injured left hand.

"Lord and Lady," Vera said as she raised her head. "When I became Your priestess I swore that I would do Your Work, but I never expected this. I thought that I would be a scholar and a teacher. I never thought that You would Call on me to fight; I never thought to be a Guardian. Now in the middle of my life you have given me this, and put this burden on my family as well. Please give me the strength and guidance that I need to fulfill my duties. Thank you for my coven, I know that they will support me and help me to carry this burden. Thank you for Nora and Rattler who have accepted me and are my mentors in this." Her shoulders flexed as she looked back down and laughed. "Not too sure about Sam and Dean yet, but at least they'll keep things interesting." Dean could hear the smile in her voice and couldn't help but smile himself. Apparently she thought her Gods had a sense of humor and that he and Sammy were examples of it. Ashera looked up again. "I pray that I am worthy to bear this Honor you have given me. As always, thank you for this chance to Serve You."

Griffin slipped out from between Dean's feet and padded into the ritual room where he jumped up on the altar that Ashera was leaning on. She made no response at first except to stroke Griffin's head.

"I didn't realize you were there Dean." She said tiredly. Dean walked into the room and laid his hand on her back between her shoulder blades.

"I thought you were supposed to be a psychic," he tried to joke. "Are you going to be okay?" She made a waving motion with her hand that Dean remembered from the day he threw the picture at her in her office.

"I'll be okay. I always am in the end," she said with a smile as she raised her head and looked at Dean. Dean searched her face for a moment.

"Do you ever admit that you're not okay?" he asked.

"Do you?" she countered, still smiling. Dean paused for a moment.

"You should be in bed, sleeping. Come on."

A new Warrior was being called, one that would be both a Hunter and a Guardian for this land. The old Guardians were weak, the new Guardians untested and alone; a stripling boy and a fearful, barren woman. The two Hunters here were little better. One was a clueless psychic that would keep them sated for a long while. The elder of the two Hunters was the only one of all of them worth fighting. They could pick them off, one by one, and gain a foothold here and then spread. They would begin with the Warrior to be called. He could be dangerous to them if he joined with the others, but right now the fool did not believe. Next would be the stripling, without him the new Guardian line would be destroyed. After that, it didn't matter in what order they took them out. It would be easy, as long as they waited and were patient.

Nora Bonesteel closed her eyes, both on her vision and her tears. The young ones could not know, they could not be allowed to try to stop this, for all of their sakes. What the demons did not know was their attempt to kill this new Warrior would lead to the best chance for their destruction.

In the meantime she had finished Kayla's sweater. She began picking out colors for Sammy. Those poor boys didn't have much in the way of clothes and a few good sweaters would help this winter.

Sam, curled on his side, woke to a bright bedroom Sunday morning. Dean was already up and gone. He turned his face into his pillow and caught just the slightest scent of Jessica. He closed his eyes for a moment. Sam vaguely remembered his dreams from the night before. He knew that she had come to him, but he didn't understand all of what she said. One thing he did understand was that she was someplace good now and she was even happy.

Sam closed his eyes again and sighed deeply. Somehow he sensed that Jessica's death had somehow saved both him and Dean from something horrible. He turned onto his back and opened his eyes, seeing sunlight and the shadow patterns of trees on the ceiling from the east-facing windows.

"I still miss you Jess," he said aloud, not bothering to whisper. People in this house understood which gave him a lot of comfort. "I'll always remember you. Thank you for…for everything. I know you said you're not watching me, but if there is anyone who is, please tell her for me." Sam still grieved for her, but the pain was lessening and the burden of guilt was lifting.

Sam folded his hands behind his head, watching the waving shadows of the trees outside the windows dance on the ceiling for a few minutes longer. With a deep breath, he realized that he needed to get up to help with the chores. He wondered why no one had awakened him. As he stood up he remembered the dream about Rattler. Sam frowned. Something about a legacy. He shook his head. He'd ask Nora Bonesteel about it later. He didn't want to bother Vera with it right now.

Sam was quiet and withdrawn throughout breakfast. Dean kept a nervous eye on him, but no one dared to ask him about his dreams. Dean kept dropping bits of egg and bacon under the table for Griffin whenever Vera wasn't looking. Jay was trying not to laugh. As usual Sam ate very little. Vera seemed tired and distracted.

After the dishes were washed, Vera sent Jay and Sam out to harvest vegetables out of the garden while she and Dean talked about Sam's situation.

"It was probably very personal," Vera murmured as she and Dean went to the library for privacy. "It's not often that such souls return, even in a dream." Vera seated herself at her desk. Shade perched on the window seat cushion primly, like a queen surveying her court. Vera motioned for Dean to pull up a chair, but he chose to pace instead.

"Tell me something," Dean asked, frustrated. "How the hell am I supposed to take care of Sammy when half the time I can't tell a bad psychic attack from a good one?"

As if in answer to his question, Griffin ambled into the library and sat directly in a sunlit square of carpet and proceeded to wash his face.

"Dean," Vera began in a firm tone that suddenly reminded him of Nora Bonesteel. He stopped pacing to stare at her. "I know the situation with your brother is upsetting you and yes, he needs training, but we have a bigger problem. The basic truth of the matter is that this situation is too dangerous for Sam to help with hunting the demons. It's going to be up to the two of us to resolve it. We need to keep him and Jay safe until we get the damned things and then our full focus will be on training the two of you. Despite the fiasco that his session with Jay turned into, Sam did manage to get an idea of the basics. Let's try to focus on one thing at a time right now." Dean took a deep breath and scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Okay, what do you know?" Dean asked as he dropped into an armchair twisting to hang a knee over the arm. Vera sighed and shook her head.

"Not as much as I would like. Because the good 'ole boy network up here is so quiet about it, I'm not even sure how many people these Goddess-be-damned things have killed. Ten at least that I know of and they seem to be getting smarter. I know there are bodies that the sheriff's department hasn't recovered yet. I felt the deaths, but I don't dare 'find' the bodies because I can't draw too much attention to myself. I've been able to scry the demons out a few times, but they move too fast for me to really pin down. The more tired I get the less stable my abilities are. Even if I did find them, what could I do on my own?" Vera brought her right fist crashing down onto her desk in an uncharacteristic physical display of anger. Dean started.

"I tried to get information from the local police, but then that Deputy LeDonne started snooping around treating me like a suspect. I can't very well do anybody any good in jail or under constant surveillance. He's backed off, but from what I have seen and heard you and Sam are his new favorite hobby. We're going to have to be very careful." Dean felt a lot of his own anger draining away when he realized how much Vera did care about the situation. He was glad they were finding some common ground.

"What about Old Rattler and Nora Bonesteel?" He asked. "They have to know how to deal with the local police." Vera sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Damn it. That's one of the problems. I am so tired I keep forgetting the obvious." Her shoulders slumped. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes again. "You're right. I keep overlooking resources. We need to talk to them as soon as possible about it. I know Nora is good friends with Jane Arrowood, Sheriff Arrowood's mother." Vera pulled out a notebook and started making a list.

"That's a start. What about the victims? Do you see any connections?"

Vera shook her head. "No. The victims are locals and tourists, males and females, ranging in age from adolescence to the elderly. The only real pattern that I see is most travel alone, like backpackers, or in pairs. Not necessarily couples, they can be friends or family members. One of the most difficult things about this is that all of the bodies have been found in caves."

"How many caves can there be out there? Why don't the cops just search all of them?' Dean asked scornfully. "What are they afraid of, Bigfoot?"

Vera stared at him for a moment before shaking her head in disgust. She'd save the lecture on local wildlife for later, preferably after he'd been scared shitless by a raccoon or 'possum. "The area is mainly made up of limestone, which means we have karst topography here. Do you know what that means?"

"No, why don't you tell me, professor?"

Vera frowned. "Actually, my proper title is Dr. Kesterson. Limestone erodes very easily in water. As a result, in a limestone rich environment with a lot of rainfall, caves form very easily, as do sinkholes. There are literally thousands of little caves out there that are big enough to hide a body in that are not mapped. That can also make some of the terrain here very difficult to get over because of how steep some of the area is and how many small springs and streams there are out there. A good thunderstorm can wash out trails. That's why if I started finding bodies in unmarked caves on other people's property I'd immediately become a suspect. Hell, there are probably caves here on the farm that the last owner didn't know about."

"Thanks for the geology lesson, but how does that affect us? We'll be fighting them on the trails." Dean was getting frustrated with her again. What the hell difference did geology make? Something was killing people out there and she seemed to think limestone was important. Vera grunted and slammed her fist down on her desk again.

"Damn it Dean, are you the one reading 'The Art of War'?"

"What?" Dean asked, surprised at the change in topic. He didn't think he had the book with him when she woke up.

"A copy is missing," she said, pointing to the place on the shelf where he'd taken it from.

"Yeah, but why does that matter?"

"Have you read the Nine Changes yet?" Comprehension began to dawn on Dean.

"Terrain, it's all about using terrain."

"That's right. There are only two of us that can go after this thing. I don't want Jay training Sam, but he does need to shield him until this is over. We need every advantage we have. Do you understand now?"

"Yeah." Dean began to understand something about Vera as well. She was very good at overall theory and knowledge, but when it came to practical application and ass whuppin' she couldn't get her head out of the clouds. He realized why Nora Bonesteel said they had to help each other. Dean was going to be training her just as much as she was going to be training him and Sammy.

"So these demons, are they succubi and incubi of some sort?"

"No," Vera said with a shake of her head. "I wish they were. They're pretty easy to deal with. A good Lesser Banishing Ritual along with a thorough house cleansing will usually do the trick. Besides, they almost never kill unless you get a nasty one. They just tire out a victim over a few weeks and then move on."

Dean gave her a strange look. "You've dealt with them before?"

Vera shrugged. "They're just a garden variety psychic nuisance. Anybody with any real occult training should be able to deal with one."

"After this is all over we are gonna have to talk. You say all you do is train but then you talk about banishing demons like it's nothing more than your cat having a bad case of fleas." 

Vera actually gave him a smile while Shade yowled at him. "Remember, I'm a Priestess as well. Never forget that."

Dean smiled in return. "I'm going to buy some cellphones for Nora and Rattler. We need to be able to stay in touch with them. I'll ask Nora about the police when I drop off her phone. You," Dean said, stabbing a finger at Vera for emphasis "rest. We've got each other's backs until this is over." There was mirth in Vera's eyes.

"Can I go out to the garden?" She asked innocently. She would anyways as soon as he was gone, but he knew that Jay and Sam wouldn't let her over tire herself.

"Sure, and if you behave I'll even let you have an extra cookie."

As Dean was on his way to the Impala, Jay called out to him to wait up while he jogged out to meet him.

"Hey," Jay began. "Look, Aunt Vera said I can't train Sam anymore, but she's not up to it yet. I don't think she's really thinking right. Could you talk to her? You're the one…"

"Dude," Dean cut him off quickly "I'm going with Vera on this one. She might be tired, but she's on her game. Listen, I gotta go into town," Dean paused a moment. He was going to tell the kid to go back and watch Sammy and Vera, but seeing Jay's face crumple made him change his mind. He'd been expelled and thrown out of his parent's house and chewed out by his aunt last night. Jay needed a break.

"Hey, why don't you come with me? You can show me what stores are open on a Sunday where we can buy groceries and cellphones. If you think Sam and Vera will be okay alone together." Dean was glad to see Jay's face light up when he made the offer.

"Sure!" Jay said eagerly, trying unsuccessfully to hide his excitement. "I think they'll be alright. Let me go tell them and I'll be right back." Dean tried not to smile. It looked like Jay thought he was pretty cool. Dean smirked. Well, it's about time someone realized that. He felt paws on his knees and looked down to see Griffin begging to be picked up. With an indulgent smile he swept his familiar into his arms and rubbed his head.

"Sorry Fur Ball, but you're not sneaking into the car this time. It's too hot today to leave you in there while we shop. I'll see if I can find a harness for you." He was beginning to see why familiars were so important to everyone.

"I'll put up with a harness if I can stay with you," Griffin cheeped at him through his purring. Dean just smiled more broadly. Even Sam would have been surprised by the look on Dean's face. Dean quickly hid his smile and let Griffin jump out of his arms when he saw Jay running back out to the car.

"Okay Griffin, stay away from the tires. Let's roll Jay."

They hadn't been on the main road for very long before Dean noticed blue lights flashing behind them.

"Holy fuckin' shit," Dean swore. "Jay, no matter what goes down, stay out of it and call your aunt as soon as possible, okay?" Jay stared at him.

"Damn it, do you understand?" Dean asked in a fury. He couldn't just pack up and run this time.

"Yes," Jay replied, frightened. Dean pulled over and stopped the car. He kept his hands low and handed Jay his cellphone and wallet. Moments later he saw Deputy LeDonne in his driver's side mirror.

"Stay cool Jay, it's gonna be okay."

"Mr. Winchester, step out of the car." Not much scared Dean, but the malice in that man's voice sent a chill down his spine.

Dean slowly complied. "What's the problem, Officer? Tail light out again?" Dean asked glibly. Fast as a snake striking LeDonne slammed a fist into his gut. Dean went down on his knees retching on the hard, hot pavement.

"Stop!" Jay screamed, scrambling to get out of the car.

"No," Dean grunted at him. Jay had to stay out of trouble. He had to let Vera know what was going on.

"Jay, get back in the car. You've been in an awful lot of trouble recently son, and you don't want to get into any more." LeDonne began cuffing Dean, slapping the handcuffs on extra tight so they were cutting into his wrists.

"I don't think you realize Jay, the kind of company you are keeping," LeDonne continued, his voice low and deadly. "Your friend here is a supposedly dead serial killer who likes to play with his victims. Now, if you know where his brother is, you'd best tell me. I'd hate to have to arrest you for obstructing justice."

Dean desperately sent out a thought to Jay to keep his mouth shut, hoping he was a strong enough psychic to get the message. He saw Jay's face go blank for a fraction of a second.

"N-no," Jay stammered. "I haven't seen him." He looked scared shitless. Dean couldn't help but think how Sammy could have handled the situation better at eight than Jay was doing at nineteen. He'd have to work on teaching him.

Where the hell did that thought come from?

LeDonne hauled Dean to his feet and threw him into the back of his cruiser, busting the side of Dean's head against the roof as he did. "Fuck, who do I look like, Rodney King?" Dean swore. Damn, this bastard could kill him and dump his body in the woods without a thought.

"Justifiable force for resisting arrest," LeDonne told him, echoing his thoughts, "Be thankful Jay Kesterson was with you, or I'd have left your body for the feral dogs to eat. But the families of the people you killed deserve more than that. You'll be extradited back to Missouri, lethal injection is better than you deserve. Good thing I stopped you before you added Jay there to your list. You're not going to screw up that boy's life, you sick pervert."


	12. Ground, Center and Shield

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 12: Ground, Center and Shield**

**Summary:** Sam and Dean resurface on the radar of the Hunting and Guardian community. Some of them have plans for the Winchester brothers.

The sun was warm and caressed her skin tenuously like the memory of a beloved but long dead lover. The soil beneath her knees held a certain cool dampness as she carefully cut rotted cucumbers from vines. Vera hoped that they would be able to save something from the gardens, as she looked nervously at her hulking companion. Sam was so strong, both physically and psychically and he was also very intelligent with a certain rugged but sensitive good looks. Strange, you'd think a combination of so many gifts would lead to a full and happy life. Instead, Sam had a tragic childhood full of grief and was teetering on the edge of madness. She watched him for a moment, smiling at Starlight's white paws scattering dirt as she kept attacking Sam's boot laces. So strange that he had such a tiny and delicate familiar while he was a modern day Hercules. He could kill her by accidentally stepping on her, but he was so aware of where Starlight was every moment.

Vera kept her shields tightly in place. She would admit to no one how terrified she was of Sam. As a tall woman, she wasn't used to being around someone so much taller than she was. It made her feel unsettled. What truly scared her was his immense psychic ability. If she had started training him when his abilities first began manifesting and she was fully rested and in good shape it would still have been a challenge. If Sam had half a clue how to do it, he could kill her with little more than a thought right now. Vera was horrified when she found out that Jay had tried training Sam. She was relieved that Jay wasn't hurt. She didn't believe that Sam would purposely try to hurt Jay, but he could have done so easily. She didn't tell Jay. She knew her nephew too well. Telling him that Sam could have killed him accidentally would only make the brat try to prove her wrong. Vera just hoped that what Nora Bonesteel said about having deeper power here was right. Vera was going to need every bit of it to keep them all alive and sane. She just hoped that the coming storm would hold off long enough for her to recover from her exhaustion and Sam's unintentional attack.

Sam froze suddenly as he was standing up with an overripe tomato in his hand. He paled under his sun-darkened skin. Vera could feel anxiety suddenly rolling off of him.

"Dean," she thought he whispered. She felt the thought from him more than she heard the name. The tomato plants and cucumber vines next to him started quivering and twitching. Star began mewling and tried climbing up his jeans. Vera felt numb with shock. Sam had telekinetic abilities. Sam was feeling things outside the farm's wards without even trying to reach out beyond them. Sam had a telepathic link to his brother. For a split second Vera wondered if vomit was good fertilizer. She forced her fear down, firmed her shields and centered herself. Vera reminded herself that she was a Priestess of the Gods. Sam could not know her fear; she could not allow it to master her.

Vera's cell started ringing. She answered it quickly knowing who it would be.

"Calm down Jay. What happened?" Sam's eyes flickered to hers. Sam's eyes held the fire of rage; Vera's the icy calm of command.

"No, stay there," she ordered her nephew. "We're coming to get you. No, Sam is not going to hide. We're going to confront the lion in its den. None of us have time for this." She hung up continuing to stare at Sam.

"Dean's been arrested. We are going to get Nora Bonesteel and head down to the sheriff's station. On the way, could you fill me in on how Dean is dead and a suspected serial killer?"

Sheriff Spencer Arrowood knew he was going to have a bad day when his mother requested he come to the station before the dispatcher Kelly radioed him. It was Sunday, so the fact that Kelly was at the station at all was a worry all its own. Apparently LeDonne had arrested a dead serial killer. He had no idea how bad a day it was going to be until he walked through the door. When Spencer saw the collection of people in the station he almost turned around and walked back out. This assembly could only mean one thing; he would have to acknowledge the existence of the shadowy world of spirits. The world that he tried to pretend didn't exist.

He had known most of the group in the office his entire life.

Nora Bonesteel had been his Sunday school teacher as a child and is a close friend of his mother. She was known to have the Sight, as the old folks called it, and helped him after he almost died a while back. Over the years, she had sent him a lot of information about his cases through his mother. Information he could use while ignoring the source. Nora was looking even more severe than usual.

Old Rattler had taught him tracking as a child. He still looked up to the old man. He'd help them catch a serial killer a few years back and rescued LeDonne under strange circumstances last year. Betsy and Jude Rice were here as well, looking outraged. Jude looked like he had gotten off his death bed. Zek Phillips was here as well, looking grim and official. Spencer wondered who was paying for the lawyer's time.

Next his eyes rested on Vera Kesterson, the new librarian, looking like she was about to breathe fire and her nephew Jay. Crap, if Jay was involved Vera wouldn't settle for anything less than blood. She seemed to have her fair share of the famous Kesterson temper.

Then there was that hulking youngster that had been helping out at the Rice's KOA. His scowl was absolutely brutal, directed at LeDonne as if he could rip him apart with his eyes. LeDonne was leaning against the door leading to the holding area. He looked as if he were under siege and willing to hold the door like the defenders at the Alamo. Kelly was bravely still sitting at her desk, looking like a captain determined to go down with the ship if duty and honor demanded.

Finally there was his mother in full self-righteous outrage, looking at him like the time she caught him making out with Susan Wyler behind the First Union Baptist Church. Sheriff Arrowood struggled not to feel like a misbehaving teenager that had just been caught. They were all staring at him, either in silent fury or somber quietness.

"Spencer," Zek began in an old man's high-pitched and decrepit voice, sounding all of his 79 years. "We have a problem here. Deputy LeDonne has assaulted and arrested a dead man. Jay Kesterson witnessed the assault and is willing to testify. Unless you want a lawsuit brought against the county and a report made to the TBI (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation), I suggest you release Mr. Smith with an apology." Spencer found the tall, flatlander kid he didn't know glaring at him now, as if he were daring him to say no. Papers began rattling on Kelly's desk. She flatted her hands on them and looked around the office for the source of the disturbance.

Vera Kesterson scowled and grabbed the kid's arm. "Sam!" There was a definite note of warning in her voice.

LeDonne finally spoke up. "Spencer, I think we should talk in private." His voice was cold as steel even though it was obvious his temper was up.

Spencer shook his head. "Whatever it is LeDonne, I think we should just talk about it out here. It'll save us from having to repeat anything." LeDonne looked like he was about to protest but sneered in the direction of Vera Kesterson.

"I did a little bit of checking. The '67 Impala that the suspect drives is actually registered to a Dean Winchester. Winchester has a long record, including assault and battery, theft, ID scams, fraud and jumping bail in so many jurisdictions I lost count. Most recently, he was a suspect in some killings in Missouri, where he was supposedly killed. Now we have a string of murders here and the guy driving his car looks a lot like Winchester's mug shot." LeDonne's eyes flicked to Sam; he was in no way intimidated by him, even though Sam was over a half foot taller. "I agreed not to arrest his brother here until you arrived. This doesn't even begin to cover everything that I found in the trunk. Sick bastards." The florescent lights overhead flickered.

Nora Bonesteel parted the crowd of people to get closer to him. "Spencer, these boys are not behind the killings, but they could be what will stop them." Spencer felt his heart drop to his feet. Looking into Miss Bonesteel's bright blue eyes, undimmed by her great age, he knew what she was talking about. Looking over her shoulder he saw Old Rattler, looking strange and remote, but he nodded in agreement with her. There was something different about Rattler; unlike his usual easy going and talkative self, he seemed withdrawn and quiet. Harder somehow. He glanced at Vera Kesterson. He had seen her angry before, usually when she was calling to report teen-aged antics. Those times were nothing compared to now. A fire burned in her face that he never suspected. She was here with Nora and Rattler. He swallowed and now understood why the Kesterson's were coming back after almost two generations. In a perverse way it comforted him.

Then Spencer remembered that the deaths started several weeks before the flatlander brothers appeared in Wake County. He closed his eyes feeling sick. He was about to go against every law enforcement procedure in the book. The unwritten rule in Wake County was the sheriff's department didn't ask too many questions of folks like Nora and Rattler, and they didn't tell you anymore than you needed to know. They sure didn't tell you how or why they knew, and you certainly never considered them suspects. LeDonne had been here for a long while, but he wasn't from these parts.

Spencer didn't blink when he looked at LeDonne. "Release him and destroy any paperwork you've done. Contact any other law enforcement agencies you've talked to and tell them it was a mistake. Bury this." 

LeDonne glared at him in disbelief. "Spencer, what are you doing?"

Spencer felt icily calm. "Do it. Then we need to talk." When he turned to the Rice's his manner warmed considerably. "Thank you for coming down and helping clear this up. Jude, try to get some rest. We're all praying for you." He said as he shook his hand gently. He clapped Zek on the shoulder and managed a grin. "See you in court next week."

As the Rice's and the lawyer were walking out the door, LeDonne turned and jerked the door leading to the holding cells open. Sam was right on his heels; Kelly threw Spencer a wild look. Spencer knew that this was not a good idea, especially if Dean was roughed up. Spencer quickly wove his way through the bodies in the office to catch up to the two of them. LeDonne turned and shoved Sam back. The kid looked like he was about to go after LeDonne.

"Sam!" Vera shouted.

"LeDonne!" Spencer bellowed. Both LeDonne and Sam fell back sullenly. "LeDonne, go wait in my office." The deputy looked murderous. The situation was far too explosive. Spencer knew how protective family members could be of one another. People in these mountains killed for family. Kin was sacred. Family feuds dating from before the Civil War were still remembered here, even if they were no longer acted on. LeDonne was a good deputy and the fact that he didn't come from Wake County was usually an asset. Today it was a dangerous deficit. LeDonne had been estranged from his kin for well over a decade. He loved the community as a whole, but he didn't understand the ties of bone and blood. Sam barely got out of his way to let him pass and then bolted down the corridor.

"Dean!" he shouted. His voice echoed terribly off the cinder block walls. Spencer chased after him with Vera on his heels. There were only two holding cells. When Sam found his brother he grabbed the bars and jerked the door open. Spencer winced, wondering how much it was going to cost to replace the lock.

8

"Could you not yell so loud, Sammy?" Dean asked as he clutched the right side of his head as he sat on the cell's bunk. Sam noticed the cut marks on his wrists from the handcuffs. Dean was looking down and to the side, refusing to meet his brother's gaze. Sam knelt down next to him and gently pulled Dean's arm away his head and noticed the bluish knot above his temple that his hand was covering. If Sam was enraged by the fact that Dean had been hurt, he was infuriated that Dean was trying to block him out. He couldn't, though, and Sam could feel Dean's bruised gut and his mild concussion.

Dean stood up carefully. "No Sam, I'll take care of him myself."

Sam surged to his feet turning, but Vera had followed him to the cell and was blocking his exit. It was obvious he was about to go after Deputy LeDonne.

"No." Vera said firmly, her green eyes looking up to meet Sam's hazel ones. Sam's lips were compressed in a thin line and his fists were clenched. Vera was standing ramrod still, feet planted and looking like she was rooted to the earth itself. 

Sam could feel his anger flowing through him, drowning out reason. He was experiencing a hot and prickling rage within himself that was laced with power. Sam felt that he could take that rage and shatter not only the air around him but everyone and everything in it. He could feel everyone's emotions, fear, anger, sadness pressing in on him and he just wanted to push them all away so he could breathe. He scrunched his eyes closed and turned away from Vera towards the wall, away from everyone.

Vera walked over and gently touched his shoulder. "Sam, can you trust me?" She asked quietly. Sam started and turned his head slightly to look at her. Her face was somber, but open, showing concern. That made Sam willing to nod to her. She seemed to understand what was happening to him. Vera was asking, not demanding in the way Dean was, or the sheriff or even Jay. She had him turn and then took both of his hands in hers.

"Remember what Jay taught you about grounding and centering?" She asked in a calm voice. When Sam nodded she continued. "That's what I want you to do right now for me, okay?" He nodded again, his jaw set and lips stiff.

Vera was both relieved and terrified. Sam was willing to let her help him, but she was scared of trying to handle the enormous output of psychic energy he was producing. Not only that, he was also a hairsbreadth away from violently releasing that terrible power with potentially deadly consequences. She had never before faced a psychic as powerful as Sam on the verge of going rogue. She wondered if he could take out the entire town of Hamelin.

Sam felt her draining the energy boiling within him. For a moment he flared and resisted until he realized that she was feeding him back an equal amount of energy that felt soothing and pure. He was still angry, but not out of control. He relaxed and let himself sink into Vera's psychic hands.

Vera strained to her limits, feeding Sam's power into the earth to help ground and clean it before pulling it back up again to give back to Sam. She trembled trying to funnel this raw power, trying to keep back tears as she struggled under the strain. She called silently to her Goddess and reached down into the earth deeper than she had ever before…

A still point. The energy that was beginning to dangerously backlog as Sam fed her too much, too fast, was now as smooth as a scarf of fine silk being passed between them. Vera sighed, reveling into the ease of it. After a moment it was complete. Vera leaned back against the wall, drained but triumphant. She was able to ground Sam and he trusted her enough to let her. Nora Bonesteel was right. Even as tired as she was, she was able to do it. She wasn't foolish enough to think it was going to be easy, but at least she was no longer afraid to train Sam.

8

Lynn Stewart yawned and stretched in her chair. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in the Order of the Comacine's North American Emergency Center. The last hunter group that needed help was the Isis-Horus Temple, a Golden Dawn based group. The five hunters had run across a nasty nest of vampires in Eureka, California. They'd wiped out the nest, but desperately needed medical help.

It was Lynn's turn to work the mandatory week long shift in the emergency center. She guessed it could be worse. At least it was the middle of the summer this year, last year she pulled her shift in mid-winter. She stood up to pace. It wasn't her place to question her superiors, but some days she wondered why the emergency center was in Upstate New York. The various assistance teams were dispatched from all around North America, but still!

"Got something!" Lynn frowned at the excitement in her partner's voice. Zip (short for Zipactonal) Valdez was a nineteen-year old linguistics hot shot who already spoke six languages fluently.

"Looks interesting!" he continued to be enthused, his brown eyes shining in his dark face. "Dean Winchester, and there's some high priority notes on him!"

Lynn froze for a moment at that name before she pushed Zip away from the monitor. She couldn't believe her eyes.

Dean Winchester. Wake County Tennessee Sheriff's Department asking for information, but a few hours later withdrawing the request. Zip hovered like an excited but hurt puppy.

"What?" he asked.

"You're too young to remember. Very strange case. The mother died in some sort of supernatural attack that even we didn't recognize. The father, John Winchester, went nuts and started hunting, no training, self taught. Major loose cannon; causing all sorts of havoc before he figured out to how to cover up behind himself." Lynn sighed bitterly. "The worst part is that he insisted on hauling his two sons with him. The oldest, Dean, was about five and the other was only six months." Zip gaped at her for a moment before Lynn nodded. He still wasn't allowed out in the field yet.

"The youngest was a very, very powerful psychic. Several of us contacted John Winchester, trying to get him to join up with a Guardian or Hunter group for his both his son's sake. Every time he pulled a gun and told us to get lost. We actually planned on taking the boys from him, but each time he disappeared on us. He imprinted the need to hide so deeply on the boys that the youngest, Sam, began to hide them psychically without realizing what he was doing. After that we lost track of them, getting only the occasional sighting. We know John Winchester bought it in Sacramento last year. We heard the elder brother, Dean, died in Missouri a few months ago but we weren't sure because of shape-shifter activity. We haven't had a reporting of Sam for at least five years now." Lynn looked thoughtfully at the monitor for a few moments as she tapped her nail on the desk.

"Put together a general purpose team. If Dean is there, we owe it to him to try to make contact again. With his dad dead, he may want to join a hunter group. If his brother is still alive, we need to get him help. We failed the Winchester sons all those years ago, and we have to try to make it right."

8

It was hard for them to materialize in full daylight, but rape and blood fueled them with enough energy. Now they could glide through the shadows to take the Warrior-to-be and feast again on blood. The Warrior had no psychic abilities, and made for easy prey. Once they had dispatched the Warrior they would lure the young psychic Hunter and the stripling Guardian off the covenstead. The covenstead was too protected to even touch. But just beyond the boundaries they were not constrained at all. Both targets would bolt beyond the wards to rescue their next victim. Then they would be theirs.

8

Joe LeDonne glared at Spencer as Martha walked into the office. "You can't really believe this shit." He stated flatly.

"Joe, I know it all sounds crazy, but I don't want to talk about it." Spencer had a mulish glint in his eye.

"You are just going to take their word for it that a ghost or devil of some sort is behind these deaths." LeDonne's voice was low, even though the three of them were the only ones in Spencer's spartan office.

"Do you have a better explanation? I'd like to hear it if you do." The Winchesters, Kestersons, Old Rattler, Nora and his mother had all left. Finally.

Martha's eyes widened as she began to understand the topic of conversation. "Oh."

LeDonne turned to include her in his glare.

"LeDonne, listen," Spencer tried again. "The subject is closed. Martha and Rattler will go out tomorrow, you take second shift and I'll pull a double. Clayt Stargill is going to help us search on Tuesday. Just do your normal patrols." LeDonne glowered for a moment and then left the office. Spencer slumped in his chair wearily and caught Martha up on the overall situation.

8

Michael "Stand Down" Jensen jerked awake in bed, breathing harshly into his pillow. He looked over at his latest bedmate, a snoring, drunken socialite. They had passed an unremarkable evening followed by barely adequate sex, she was a lousy lay. He slid carefully out of bed hoping she wouldn't wake up and demand any more of his attention. Michael threw on a robe and went downstairs to sit in a lounge chair on the beach.

If anyone had been told that Mike Jensen, head of the Order of the Comacine's North American Emergency Centre and all around scoundrel and bad boy, had nightmares over the memory of a four-year old they would either laugh or think it was a very bad joke. It had been during Mike's first field assignment, the particulars were fuzzy, and he only remembered that it had been someplace in Colorado and that it was cold as hell. He was all of twenty-one when he suddenly found himself face to face with the Winchester "family" in the parking lot of a nameless convenience store. Mike still remembered those little hazel eyes, looking up at him from behind the dirty, faded jeans of his half-drunk father. The kid was filthy and his lip was bloody from a freshly picked scab. The older kid was maybe all of nine at the time and looked tense and tired, with an ugly half-healed bruise from his left cheekbone to chin. Mike couldn't tell who the kid was more afraid of--his dad or him. Later he found out their names. He'd been briefed on them a few months before, but being a swaggering, self-centered brat he hadn't paid attention. Why would he care about a couple of kids?

Mike had been "Found" early in life by the Order, an act for which he was now grateful. He had grown up as a little princeling, having the rare and powerful combination of both physical and psychic healing gifts. The literal "laying on of hands" type of healing, the kind seen once, maybe twice in a generation. He was doted on by the Order, he never experienced hunger and other than in training, he had never been hurt. He had heard of abuse, neglect and poverty and thought it was horrible, of course, but this was the first time he had actually seen and Felt it. He saw it in the eyes of little Sammy Winchester. The kid was strong enough at four to project a feral hunger that Mike didn't even know could exist.

It was also the first time that Michael had ever looked down the barrel of a gun.

His eyes had snapped from Sammy to the snarling face of John Winchester. Apparently the kid had Felt on some level that he was a healer and had wandered away from his dad and older brother to tug on his jacket as Mike was getting into his rental car. Mike had been to slow to understand, and just stood there gawping for precious seconds at the dirty child before understanding who he was. Daddy apparently decided that he was some kind of pervert that was trying to lure Sam away. Mike had tried to reason with John, but he was caught off guard and too inexperienced. He just stood there stammering and watched helplessly as John Winchester took the kids. Mike still remembered Sam gazing back at him over his father's shoulder as John carried him away.

Mike should have tried stalling and called out to the rest of the team. He should have snagged Sam up and ran. He should have knocked John Winchester on his ass and held a gun on him until the team got there. Mike was armed. Everyone was armed in the field.

Mike wasn't arrogant enough to blame himself for the tragedy that was the Winchester family, but he did carry the burden of knowing that he had the chance to intervene and had blown it. Other Orders, like the Priory and the Knights, had tried to save the kids, as well as smaller Hunter and Guardian groups. Sam began safeguarding the family with his newly-awakened power. He hid them so well that the strongest of psychics had a hard time finding them.

Now the alarm had been raised that Sam and Dean Winchester might still be alive. Everyone wanted to be on the contact team; but Mike was pulling rank. He was going to be on that team. He could heal with a touch, but it took so much out of him that his opportunities were limited. He was only supposed to heal Order members when they were in danger of dying or from permanent injury. To heal someone outside the Order required the direct permission of Hradani Tudor, the Mistress of the Full Order of the Comacine Masters. The rules be damned, if either one of the Winchester brothers were still alive he'd heal every hurt they had, right down to a busted lip. It was the least he could do. There was something else that no one knew about him except for his accountant. Mike donated twenty percent of all his income to programs for homeless and abused children, starting the day he saw Sam. He did it out of the hope that the money he gave would go to a program that might help Sam and Dean Winchester.

Mike Jensen was going to ensure that the Winchester brothers received the help they needed, whether they wanted it or not. He certainly was not going to watch Sam get away from him a second time. Mike knew he could take Sam on psychically, especially if he had the physical back up. It didn't matter how strong a psychic a person was, they'd still go down if you hit them hard enough and fast enough in the right place. Sam couldn't have had any serious psychic training, and with his childhood, there should be plenty of weak spots to hit. The kid probably had a raging case of post traumatic stress disorder and triggering a flashback would be easy. It should go smoothly. Once Mike had him down, the rest of the team would be all over him, slapping psychic shields in place, trussing him up and drugging him to his eyebrows. The hardest part would probably be keeping Dean, the older brother under control.

After that, it would be a chartered jet and a free vacation at their Hawaiian facility for a little therapy.

8

Sammy could Feel them. He could always Feel them, but Daddy said these people were bad. They didn't Feel bad though, they Felt kinda good. Sammy also could See bad things, especially when he was asleep. He didn't understand for a long time why Daddy and Dean couldn't See them. Maybe it was because he was bad, too, so he tried to pretend like they weren't there. They still scared him, though, but Dean said he was a cry baby and Daddy told him to be a good little soldier. Sammy learned how to cry quietly so no one would notice. He was in the back seat by himself a lot, so it was easy.

The real people that Daddy said were bad confused him the most. They always Felt clean and light and he always wanted to go to them. Sometimes they tried talking to Daddy, but he always got real mad and pointed guns at them. They stopped trying to talk to Daddy after that. After a while he could hear them talking to him in his head, telling him to come over and play with them or that they had something good to eat for him. Somehow they knew he like peanuts and gummy worms. One tried to pick him up once; a nice lady with spiky, black hair, she talked to him in his head, offering him trail mix but Daddy punched her. Later, Daddy had yelled at him and spanked him harder than he ever had before -- all because Sammy had walked over to the dark-haired lady at the rest stop. Sammy cried for a long time. That night, after Daddy fell asleep, Dean wouldn't hold him like he usually did after he was spanked. His big brother pushed him away saying he was stupid and should know to obey orders by now. Sammy had laid awake for most of the night, feeling miserable and alone.

By morning Sammy had decided that he would always, always ignore the bad people. He would pretend that they weren't there, like the bad things he Saw in his head. He would ignore them when they talked to him in his head. He would be so still and quiet they wouldn't See him anymore. It was working with the bad things; it should work with the bad people too.

Sam could Feel them coming again. They had Seen him because he wasn't being quiet anymore. Even though they didn't Feel evil or even dark, he was terrified anyway.

Dean lay awake that night with a headache. The day certainly didn't play out as he planned. The last thing Dean expected was to be arrested, roughed up, and then released from county lock up on the say so of the local pillars of the community. This place just gets freakin' weirder with every passing day. Guess he should get used to it; according to everyone there was a good chance he and Sam be spending a lot of time in Wake County.

Dean could feel Sam start trembling and whimpering in the bed next to him. Damn it, the last thing he needed was for Sammy's fucked up subconscious to start acting up again. He was just about to get up to get Vera when Sam woke.

"Dean." Sam whispered, as if he were afraid someone might hear him.

Dean touched Sam's shoulder and felt his terror. He wasn't sure if Sam was really awake or not. "I'll go get Vera."

"No!" Sam whispered urgently, reaching out for his brother. "Please, please just hold me," he begged, his voice still barely audible. "Don't tell him, he'll get mad at me again." Dean was sickened by the childlike sound of Sam's voice; he had no doubt that the "he" Sam was referring to was their dad. Dean gathered Sam's too large frame into his arms and stroked his back. His little brother burrowed into him tears leaking from his eyes. Dean looked around, wondering what happened to Starlight.

"Sam...Sammy, what's wrong?" Dean whispered. He knew enough about psychology to know Sam was having a flashback of some sort.

Sam sobbed quietly. "They're coming again."

"What's coming, Sammy?" Dean asked urgently. Was something wrong with the wards on the farm? "Is it the demons?"

"No," Sam whimpered, "it's the bad people Daddy says want to take us away." Dean froze, not sure which terrified him more, what Sam said or how he said it. Griffin curled against his back, pressing himself into the hollow between his shoulder blades. Dean felt as if his familiar was giving him strength.

"What people?" Dean asked more harshly than he intended. He all but crushed Sam against him in his desperation. "What bad people?"

"Don't you remember? The man in the parking lot who almost took me into his car; the lady in the rest stop that Daddy punched. People that can talk to me in my head." Sam whispered ashamed.

Dean started trembling himself. Sam must be remembering the Hunter groups that tried to contact them when they were kids. Shit, Sam was terrified of them. Dean bitterly wondered what happened to scare him so badly. He barely remembered them. He stroked Sam's hair for a few moments and let him sob into his chest, trying to decide what to do.

"Sam," Dean began firmly. "They're not going to take you away. I won't let them, and Vera won't either. She and Nora and Rattler and Jay will make them go away." Dean spoke slowly, hoping his words would sink into Sam's traumatized psyche.

"Vera? Rattler?" Sam asked, sounding confused.

Dean rubbed the back of Sam's head. "Remember? Vera protected you from the bad dreams. Nora told us about how there are other Hunters so we don't have to be alone. Jay taught you how to keep from sensing other people." Dean could feel Sam's eyelashes blinking against his chest.

"Ground and…center. Shields." Sam said slowly. Dean could Feel Sam's consciousness shifting.

"That's right" Dean murmured, encouraging him. "Ground and center for me, okay? Can you do that?" Sam took a deep breath and huffed it out into Dean's chest. Sam relaxed in his arms and after a minute he began drifting back to sleep.

Dean just held him, his headache getting worse. He knew if he got out of bed Sam would wake up again, and that probably wouldn't be good. He'd talk to Vera about it in the morning.

Dean closed his eyes. He was so tired and wished there was someone to take care of him for once. It was selfish, but he wanted the rest of Vera's coven to come back so they could take care of Sam for a while. He was impressed how well Vera handled his younger brother earlier. He had never seen Sam that angry before, and Vera talked him down.

Starlight came charging back into the room and scrambled up on the bed. She began sniffing and nuzzling Sam's messy hair anxiously. Dean stroked her head for a moment before she settled down on Sam's pillow against the back of his neck.

Griffin lifted his head to look at her over Dean's shoulder. "Never fails," he said with a wide yawn, "humans, they always start acting up when you're in the litter box."

Dean woke early the next morning, just as the sun was rising. Sam was still deeply asleep and Starlight had moved and was sleeping on top of his head. Despite the rough night, Dean still had to smile at her; goofy little brother, goofy little familiar. He wondered where Griffin was, missing the feel of him curled against his side or back. Almost as if Dean's thoughts had summoned him, Griffin came charging into the room something dangling from his mouth, trailed by Shade and Blue Boy, another one of the familiar cats. He jumped up onto the bed and proudly presented Dean with a large, dead but still twitching squirrel. Dean sat up in bed stunned for a few moments before laughing softly and reaching across to rub Griffin's ears. The cat's entire body was vibrating from his purrs. Last night Dean wanted someone to take care of him for once and now his familiar is bringing him breakfast in bed. The squirrel stopped moving and Dean touched the lush tail of the little tree rodent. He smiled, cheered despite his worries for Sammy and scooped up Griffin to snuggle him against his bare chest.

Shade began purring as well. "I was afraid that Dean wouldn't accept Griffin's gift. Humans can be so squeamish. I think Griffin has chosen well. I'm glad I was wrong. I wanted to be here in case Dean upset him."

Blue Boy just snorted from where he lay at Sam's feet. "You shouldn't be so harsh with the youngsters. Griffin has chosen well. Dean might not be a strong psychic or even a magician, but Dean loves him. He certainly appreciates him. Just look at the two of them."

Griffin was wriggling ecstatically in Dean's arms while meeping and purring at him. Dean was grinning broadly as the rising sun began to paint his tanned torso golden. Griffin's fur glistened in the sunlight like white and gray pearls and the bright colors of the quilt on the bed shone like jewels. Star woke up, yawned delicately and blinked at Dean and the other cats before nuzzling the top of Sam's head. Sam was still deeply asleep and Dean had no intensions of waking him.

With a sigh, Dean knew he had to let this moment pass. Vera would want to get work done, they had a demon to kill, and a dead squirrel was bleeding on the quilt. Dean would ask Vera or Jay what the best thing to do with a familiar's gift was.

Breakfast that morning was chaotic. "There's a cold front coming through this afternoon." Vera said as she rushed them through their meals. Jay was scarfing down English muffins and fruit, Dean had found a frozen breakfast lurking in the back of the freezer that he nuked and Sam was playing with a bowl full of granola cereal. "Temps are going to drop by about fifteen degrees and bad thunderstorms can start popping up. We need to get some things done before we can hole up with the sheriff's department reports we got yesterday and do research and start dowsing." Vera looked better than she had since Dean had met her and now seemed to posses a boundless, intense and focused energy that was almost frightening. He began to wonder if she was possessed but Jay seemed happy about it, so he let it pass.

"I promised the Rice's that I'd be back at the KOA to finish things up today." Sam yelled to Vera from the dining room as she sliced a cantaloupe in the kitchen. She poked her head into the dining room with a frown on her face. "I'd really rather that you didn't leave the farm until we got those damned things. Could you put it off a day or two?"

"I promised," Sam responded with a stubborn set to his jaw that Dean knew all too well. He only saw him use that expression towards himself or Dad. Shit. Was Sam going to start calling her Auntie Vera now like some dysfunctional family? Jay watched the potential confrontation with interest, his gaze all but egging Sam on. Dean decided to wait to see what happened.

A strange series of emotions seemed to chase across Vera's face; annoyance, concern, amusement and exasperation. "Please remember to ground, center and shield. Stay in touch with everyone, okay? If anything feels weird, call us and come home." Dean could tell that she was choosing her words carefully.

Sam seemed pleased at her response. "I'll be sure to get home before the storm. I can finish up tomorrow if I need to."

Home. That word seemed to slip out so naturally for Vera and Sam. Could Dean ever use it and mean it? Then he realized why Vera was acting so cautiously with Sammy. If this was going to be their Hunting base, they were going to have to get along with one another, work together, like a family. Dean shuddered, remembering three other people lived here as well. This situation was forcing them to develop relationships that would last their entire lifetimes.

That scared Dean almost as much as the demons did.

LeDonne was in a bad mood that Monday morning. If anyone had asked Martha, she would have said he was in a snit. They had been dating for several years now and were talking about getting married, but the release of Dean Winchester brought into focus a serious difference of opinion. Martha believed in the Sight, as the locals called it. While LeDonne thought it was a superstitious load of shit. To make matters worse, the very people he had been trying to protect, the Rice's and the Kesterson's, had came to the guys' defense.

As a result, LeDonne wasn't feeling very charitable when his cell rang mid-morning and he saw that it was Martha's number. She had left with Rattler earlier to search for evidence to link to the murders.

"Yes," LeDonne answered tersely.

He heard a sigh on the opposite end of the line. "We're up at Greer's Cove. Is there any way you could bring us some bottled water and lunch from Dent's?" He heard Martha ask.

LeDonne figured she was pushing her luck to ask him for a favor and was only calling because she was concerned about the elderly man's stamina. Eating lunch would be a good excuse to give Rattler a rest and they would save time by not driving back and forth into town.

LeDonne sighed and answered with all the patience he could muster. "Fine, you want your usual? What does Rattler want?" He jotted down their orders and said goodbye.

Ravenmocker paused for a moment as he dropped out of the cell system.

"Little Brother, I am sorry. I will be with you at the end and beyond."

Hradani Tudor, Mistress of the Full Order of the Comacine Masters rubbed her temples and sighed. She had barricaded herself behind her desk in her London office. She had told her secretary not to forward any calls and just take messages. Most of the North American division of the Order was in hysterics over a couple of brothers she had never heard of. She had the Winchester case file forwarded to her so she could understand the situation. Hradani couldn't have half the members of the North American unit over the age of forty leaving their posts and going to Tennessee.

The case of the Winchester brothers was compelling, and she could understand why so many people wanted to be on the contact team. Unfortunately, there had been some serious squabbles over who would make up the five person team, so much so that some of the antagonists had appealed to her directly. Hradani could not believe she was having to hand-pick the members of a Hunter contact team.

Finally, she decided to send ten members on the team. Wake County was fairly isolated and they didn't have much information on the area. If the brothers were there, they would be able to find them. If they had escaped again one of the psychics should be able to pick up the trail provided Sam was no longer hiding them. Hradani was sending a three-person psychology/PSI unit as part of the group. Given their history of abuse and neglect she wanted to be sure Dean was psychologically stable and if Sam was still alive she wanted him extensively examined. If he was as strong a psychic as the reports indicated, he could become a serious threat if he went rogue. If Sam Winchester was in danger of losing control, he would be taken to their psychology/PSI facility on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Of course both brothers would be invited to go, but they would take Sam forcibly if necessary for treatment and training. They would ask Dean if he wanted to go under those circumstances. The forensic psychological reports stated that it would be best if the brothers were kept together.

Michael Jensen had requested to be on the team, and Hradani had approved him immediately. He had actually seen the Winchester brothers almost twenty years ago and was their strongest psychic and medical healer. He would be able to help subdue Sam if needed. She would leave it up to Michael to choose another psychic and a medic for the PSI unit. Hradani selected Greg Timmons to lead the security unit. He needed to choose four members, as long as there were two hostage negotiators. While she did not think a hostage situation was likely, having trained negotiators with them if they had to take Sam by force would be good. The Winchester brothers were experts in hand-to-hand combat and Dean in particular was considered especially lethal. She was also sending Zip Valdez. He was only nineteen, but he was the one who first received the notice on the Winchesters. Hradani did not believe in coincidences. She had been the head of the Comacine Order for too long. She thought that having someone close to Sam's age might put the brothers at ease.

Hradani was disquieted that she was putting together an invasion team to kidnap the brothers if necessary, but she saw no other option. The Hunter and Guardian community was, for the most part, a very tight knit group in North America. The North American division was very proud of this, and took great care to provide anyone who fought the powers of Darkness their full support. The community considered the abuse and neglect that the Winchester brothers suffered to be their greatest failing. Hradani knew her people. They would not rest until they knew the Winchester brothers were safe, stable, and not taking unnecessary risks in their Hunting, or putting others at risk.


	13. Officer Down, Warrior Called

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**WARNING: This chapter contains graphic violence and character deaths (Ballad characters).**

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 13: Officer Down; Warrior Called**

**Summary:** A tragedy results in a new beginning; and Sam takes the bait.

**WARNING: This chapter contains graphic violence and character deaths (Ballad characters).**

**Author's Note (Atana):** When I write a death scene, they tend to be realistic. There is no single-stab-to-the-chest and leave a pretty corpse scene here. There is not pointless gore, either. It is to drive home the fact that these characters are 'people' and their deaths have significance beyond 'oh, this is what I need the plot to do.' Their deaths have deeper meaning. If you do not want to read the actual death scenes but want to stay with the story, skip the first section of this chapter. I will put a short synopsis of who died without the gore immediately after it.

Deputy Joe LeDonne pulled his blue Honda in behind Martha's police cruiser on the narrow road leading to Greer's Cove. He opened the door of his car, wiping the sweat from his brow, the heat was oppressive. It was almost noon and as he stood up he was blinded momentarily by the sun which was topping the tall oak trees on the north side of the road. He glanced away and noticed the clouds building in the northwest. The weather reports were predicting a storm in a few hours.

Hearing voices, he turned shading his eyes with his hand to see Martha Ayers and Old Rattler emerging from some brush about 40 feet away, walking toward him. Martha seemed surprised to see him and hailed him.

"Joe! What are you doing up here?"

He frowned, confused. "You called and asked me to bring lunch."

As Martha and Rattler continued to approach they passed through the shadow of a huge oak tree. LeDonne saw something materialize right behind the two of them. It was at least 12 feet tall. Shaped like a man, its skin seemed to glow with a sickly green tint. It raised a massive, clawed hand to strike.

LeDonne screamed a warning as he ran forward, drawing his sidearm. Martha and Rattler turned as those green claws descended on their unprotected bodies. Joe barely had time to blink before Martha was down in a torrent of gore. The creature swelled like an engorged tick feeding on Martha's life blood. LeDonne emptied his gun into the creature. The bullets had no effect on it.

With preternatural speed the claws slashed Rattler. Joe saw the old man move with an agility he didn't think possible to throw something at the creature. The claws found their mark, shearing Rattler's head from his body, crushing his head and mangling his torso. Whatever Rattler threw exploded on impact. Rattler's blood, skin, bone and brain matter splattered over Joe's face, hands and chest as the creature screamed and faded just as rapidly as it appeared.

Joe was a Desert Storm veteran and he had seen carnage before, but this was nothing like a human or animal attack. He had a hard time processing what he had just seen. His police training took over and he numbly scanned the ground for footprints or any evidence of the creature's existence. His bullets had hit something; there were no bullet holes in the tree trunk.

Joe knelt beside Martha's body, his heart falling as he looked into her empty brown eyes opened in surprise. He gently closed them. Her chest had been slashed open with her lungs laid bare, a hole where her heart should have been. She had bled out in seconds. His hands, covered in both Rattler's and Martha's blood, fumbled for her shoulder radio. It was dead. Rising to his feet, holstering his empty gun, LeDonne walked back to Martha's cruiser to radio for assistance. Not that it mattered; it was too late to help Martha and Rattler.

Joe LeDonne on an errand to bring lunch, witnesses the demon killing Martha and Old Rattler. He now believes in the supernatural. 

The next few hours were a blur for Joe LeDonne. He remembered just disjointed bits; Millie looking green, Spencer's eyes looking far too old. The overriding emotion that brought him out of his shock was rage.

Rage that the thing that had taken Martha and Old Rattler's lives dared to exist. That there was another world out there, alongside the one he knew. A world where boundaries were not fixed and regulated by the rules he knew; a world of monsters, demons and ghosts. A world where a woman who had worked so hard to fulfill her dreams of becoming a sheriff's deputy and an old man that had saved Joe's life could be savagely butchered by a shape in the shadows.

This supernatural world had made an invasion into his life. Now he was going to fight back. After the events of the past few days, he knew exactly who to see about joining this battle, this crusade; if they would let him. He didn't care that Dean Winchester might try to beat the crap out of him first.

A few moments later, Spencer interrupted his thoughts. LeDonne looked up at the touch of a hand on his shoulder. He became aware of Kelly struggling not to cry while she tried to calm Kayla's near hysterics.

Spencer's eyes were red-rimmed as he quietly asked LeDonne to follow him into his office. "Joe, can you bring in the Winchester brothers for me?"

LeDonne looked at him blankly for a moment. "They didn't have anything to do with this. Spencer, I saw it."

Spencer nodded. "I know. We can't call a search or involve other law enforcement agencies. They'd just be…they couldn't deal with the situation." Spencer swallowed. "We're an officer down and Sam and Dean Winchester might be the only ones that can stop this."

Joe LeDonne walked slowly out to his Honda, still in his blood-stained civilian clothes, dried blood crusted in his hairline. He didn't have time to go home and change or shower. He could have called Vera Kesterson and got in touch with the brothers that way. Joe couldn't imagine trying to explain this over the phone. He'd see them face to face.

Jay grunted in annoyance as he dumped another shovel full of horse shit into the wheelbarrow. He knew why Aunt Vera had given him this job. She was still pissed at him over the incident with Sam. He loved her, but sometimes his aunt could hold on to a grudge.

Jay thought back on the events that led him to mucking out the entire horse stable. At least he wasn't out in the hot sun. Overall, he was glad to be living here on the farm with Aunt Vera, Sam and Dean. But he'd be in deeper shit if his aunt knew the whole story of what happened in Chattanooga. She'd be really angry with him if she knew he had gotten involved with Light Feather after she'd warned him to stay away from him. That was her only objection to him attending her alma mater; Light Feather being so close to him.

Jay wondered if he should go ahead and tell her before everything hit the media. Light Feather had played him, Dean and Sam for fools. Jay had almost told Dean yesterday before the arrest, but he quickly realized that Vera and Dean were presenting a united front. He couldn't play one off against the other in this situation to keep the trouble he was about to get into to a minimum.

Jay thrust the shovel upright into a mound of shit for a moment and pulled off his sweaty t-shirt to wipe off his face, his back itching from little bits of hay. His mind drifted back to that disturbing night he'd spent in the Hamilton County lock up… 

Jay had been sitting in a holding cell, staring at the dirty, off-white cinder block walls. He had a cell to himself and it was surprisingly quiet. It was about oh-god-o'clock in the morning and Jay was left thinking about how this was going to impact the rest of his life.

Jay knew he had done the right thing. The Uktena was dead, people would stop dying and the Native American remains and grave goods were going to be reburied in a secret location by a local Native American activist group. Jay had refused to give up the names of his partners in crime, Sam and Dean Winchester. He wasn't a rat and he knew that they had saved a lot of people over the years. Besides, Dean had been hurt pretty badly and didn't need to spend time in jail. Jay had family that would post bail and hire lawyers to defend him but the brothers didn't. Aunt Vera would understand, even if Mom and Dad did not. Well, Dad might, but he wouldn't admit it around Mom.

Jay was trying to figure out how the police had arrested him so quickly.

His fingerprints were all over the archaeology lab, but Sam and Dean had worn gloves. There were no cameras in the lab and Jay knew how to avoid the campus security cameras. While his fellow freshmen were partying their first week on campus, Jay had befriended some of the guys who worked campus security. He knew the patrol schedules and when shifts changed. It always paid to be prepared. There were over twenty people, not counting the janitorial staff that had keys to the lab. Jay had distracted the head of the lab while he was leaving and he had forgotten to turn on the alarm. Well, he did more than distract him. Jay had learned the fine art of psychic misdirection from Aunt Vera. Something else she would kill him for if she ever found out. She had a big thing about "abusing" normal people. Jay didn't understand why she'd taught him all this stuff if they weren't supposed to use it.

Jay jumped off the cot when he heard a door clang open at the end of the hall, hoping that Aunt Vera had made it down to bail him out. He was surprised to see it was Light Feather, otherwise known as John Pacer. He was a Chattanooga city cop and he had made it clear that he could not be implicated in any way. Jay figured Light Feather had heard about his arrest.

"Did you call my aunt?" Jay asked in an intense undertone.

Light Feather just shook his head and smiled. "No, I called your parents."

Jay blinked. Light Feather's attitude seemed almost smug. "How'd I get caught?" Jay asked after a moment.

If anything, Light Feather's grin just got broader. "Anonymous tip."

"Who? Who could have seen us…" Jay trailed off, looking at Light Feather's shit-eating grin. "It was you! But why?"

Light Feather raised his hand in warning. "Nothing personal, Jay. I'm just getting tired of chasing the Kesterson clan out of my territory."

Jay stared open mouthed, "What the hell are you talking about?" He managed to ask after a few seconds.

Light Feather's expression became maliciously gleeful. Jay felt like he was talking to a different person, not the man who had helped them battle the Uktena.

"You mean that precious Aunt Vera of yours still hasn't figured it out yet?" He shook his head. "She's a book smart and talented psychic. A little above average power wise, but her knowledge and skill make it easy for her to hold her own against the big boys. Great trainer, by the way. One of the best I've ever seen, actually. Maybe the best out there." He looked appraisingly at Jay a moment. "Did an excellent job with you. If I thought she wouldn't flat out refuse, I'd send her a few of my people to her for part of their training." He smiled again, showing way too many teeth. "But in other ways amazingly dense and naive."

Jay was reeling, he was exhausted, hungry, bruised from the fight with the Uktena and sleep deprived. This whole night seemed surreal. "Your people? What is she being dense about?" Jay felt like his knees were about to give out from under him.

Jay just about shit himself when Light Feather spun around to turn off the security camera. Jay stumbled back from the cell door, wondering exactly what Light Feather was going to do to him.

Light Feather just grinned, "Finally wising up, I see. Don't worry, I'm not about to perform a little police brutality on you." Light Feather pulled up a chair. "Sit down. Since Vera is so dense, I guess I'll have to provide some training that she can't. I know you're tired, but pay attention. I don't want to repeat myself here. Then again, you saved me a lot of time and trouble by taking care of the Uktena, so I guess it's not too much of a chore."

Jay sunk back onto his bed.

Jay sat there stunned as Light Feather told him about the Hunter and Guardian community. Actually, he learned, those terms were beginning to become archaic. As the country was becoming more populated what were once Guardian and Hunter groups were merging. Only about half the groups now stayed in one place or traveled exclusively. Apparently there were more than enough supernatural menaces to keep everyone busy. Most groups had a home base where they defended their community and a large area around it. In larger cities they actually had numerous groups that worked both independently and together for big cases. Just about everyone called themselves simply Guardians these days.

"But, but what does that have to do with…" Jay interrupted a little dazed.

Light Feather smiled again, but this time it was with more understanding. "I know you're tired Jay, but we're almost done. I'm the Guardian leader in Chattanooga and the surrounding area. I knew the moment I saw Vera that she was a Guardian leader, just not for my area. She was all of seventeen when she got here, and I was willing to tolerate her for a few years while she got her degree. I even did some of her early training. After she graduated, though, Vera thought to stay here, and I couldn't have that. I knew she needed to be someplace else, so I started annoying and hassling her until she left."

"About the Uktena, well, my group could have taken it, but you were here and the Winchester boys showed up." Light Feather laughed. "I had these three youngsters all anxious to take care of it, so why should I get in your way? It was good training for you. The Winchester boys are just cannon fodder. As long as you survived in one piece I didn't care what happened to them."

Jay stared at him. Light Feather leaned forward in his seat. "Boy, don't you get it? You're a Guardian too, just a very young one. You needed to learn some lessons. Look before you leap and don't trust people so damned easy. Roaming, homeless low rent Hunters like Sam and Dean are there to be used. They're pretty damned clueless so use 'em up to save your own stable of talent. You, on the other hand," Light Feather leaned back and shrugged, "you have somebody to claim you. As much as Vera and I don't get along, you're still the nephew of one of my former students. Have to admit, though, I was disappointed when Dean didn't die. Wouldn't have minded recruiting Sam, but Dean would be too much of a pain in the ass to put up with and those two would never leave one another."

"But why have me arrested?" Jay asked. He was totally awake now, and furious. He kept his shields tightly in place, projecting bewilderment. Something else Aunt Vera had taught him, layering shields, projecting false auras and emotions, hiding what he was even from other psychics. Damn it, she was right, both about Light Feather and how important it was to stay hidden from everyone.

"Oh, I'm killing two birds with one stone." Light Feather was smug again. "I've gotten you expelled, which means you'll be leaving my territory. Take my advice, Jay; you should be with Vera. Second, you make a cute poster boy for Native American activism. Just think of it, noble teenaged college student risks all to steal sacred objects from insensitive archaeologist so Indians can rebury them. You're good looking, smart, articulate; that both your aunt and father attended college here just makes it better. More of a sacrifice, you see. You know you can't point a finger at me, and I'm sure due to your aunt's influence you'll be noble enough to give those impassioned interviews to the press. You know what you did is right. I wouldn't worry about the charges. They'll be dropped eventually. I know the district attorney, he'll fold. The worst that'll happen is that you'll have a few court appearances. There will be Native American groups protesting for you, every member of the Wanna Be Tribe and liberal out there will be outraged on your behalf and making phone calls and writing letters. Donations to Native American groups will start rolling in and it will raise awareness for Native American issues. You'll get your fifteen minutes of fame and it'll do someone some good. There will be colleges offering to take you; probably better ones than UTC. Of course, no one will ever let you near an archaeology lab again, but a career in archaeology really isn't a good one for a young Guardian." Light Feather smirked. "Try law enforcement or criminal justice."

Light Feather stood up. "I'll go call your parents now." He grinned at Jay's look of shock that he hadn't called them yet. "Don't be surprised, I wanted to be sure we had time for our little talk. I'll ensure you have this cell to yourself until you are released. I'll see what I can do to get your bail lowered or waived since it is your first offense; depends on who the judge is." He paused. "I'd call Vera, but like I said, I'm tired of Kestersons in my area. Your dad is bad enough, but at least he isn't a psychic or Guardian." He smiled again. "Hope you learned from this, and take care of yourself Jay." With that, he flipped back on the security camera and left Jay sitting there.

The memory still made Jay flush with anger. He adjusted his grip on the shovel and dug into another pile of horse dung. Aunt Vera had told him something that his Great Grandma Vera Louise "Rattling Gourd" Kesterson once said. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Jay wasn't going to be tricked by Light Feather again. He had a score to settle with him, Guardian or not. The bastard had the nerve to think Sam and Dean were "cannon fodder" and hoped that Dean would die. Jay wondered if Light Feather had tried to set up Dean in some way and that's how he got hurt. A slight psychic or magic nudge at the right time could have done it. During the fight Jay had a split second flash of precognition that made him yell out a warning to Dean so he missed the worst of the Uktena's blow. Dean had only ended up with some broken ribs instead of a broken spine, or worse. Interesting, he had just gotten the brothers to Erlanger hospital and was driving back to campus when he was arrested. A little too neat now that he thought about it.

Jay decided to keep his mouth shut for now. This had become something personal between him and Light Feather. He'd settle the score with him. He didn't know how yet, but the bastard was going to pay.

Joe LeDonne pulled his Honda into the driveway of Vera Kesterson's farm. He put the car in park and just sat there staring at the house. Joe couldn't believe he actually considered Vera Kesterson a suspect, or Sam and Dean Winchester. He saw it, and still didn't know what it was.

Joe crumpled in his seat, pain tearing at his chest as he gasped. Martha was dead. He would go home, eventually, and see her clothes in the hamper and her favorite coffee mug in the sink. Her voice was still on their answering machine. Joe would eventually lie in a bed that still held Martha's scent, with her hairs on the pillow. Joe's mind flashed to her broken body. Her blood was still under his fingernails, he could still see Martha's chest tore open and her eyes staring. And Old Rattler. Dear God, what had that old man ever done to deserve to die like that?

Joe took a deep breath and sternly brought himself under control. He had some hunting to do.

Dean and Vera were out in the vegetable garden. Dean thought he'd never be able to look at another tomato again. It would be a relief to finish harvesting this garden. Vera didn't want anyone besides herself or Jay in the herb garden, for which he was grateful. Who knew that dandelions were edible or that mint would take over a garden if you weren't careful? At least she didn't have him shoveling shit out of the horse barn like Jay.

"Hullo! Vera? Anyone home?" Both he and Vera stood up and walked around the house towards the voice. Dean froze when he saw who it was. Beside him Vera tensed.

Joe cleared his throat. "Dean, I need you and Sam to come back down to the station. Vera, you might want to come too." Joe's voice was very soft for him, and there wasn't the usual sense of command behind it that it usually carried.

"Why?" Vera asked bluntly before Dean could find his voice around his anger.

Joe LeDonne actually flinched before looking Dean in the eye. "Martha and Rattler are dead." The words spilled out of his mouth. Joe couldn't think of any easier way to say it. It was usually Spencer or Martha that went to break bad news to families. Dean swayed slightly. Rattler was gone.

"How?" Vera asked softly. A sarcastic part of Dean's mind that refused to turn off, snickered at Vera being reduced to monosyllables once again.

Joe shuddered, not breaking eye contact with Dean. "I saw it."

Dean suddenly understood. Joe LeDonne had the same look on his face his father had when he was thinking about the night mom died. The awful moment when the eyes look on the impossible and acknowledge the truth of what they had seen. LeDonne did not just mean he witnessed the deaths of Martha and Rattler, he meant he had seen the supernatural evil that exists in this world and now was no longer ignorant of it. 

For the first time, Dean noticed the dried blood on LeDonne's shirt and caked in his short hair. Dean swallowed his anger for now. LeDonne was coming to him looking for more than help, he had a purpose as well. Dean could see it in the set of his jaw and the stiffness of his posture. Here was another warrior, and Dean acknowledged him as one with a slight nod of his head. Some of the tension left Joe's jaw, realizing he had been accepted. For two people who supposedly weren't psychic Dean and Joe communicated just fine without words. Like his father, like Sammy and himself, LeDonne was a warrior called to this battle.

Vera looked between the two of them, confused. "What?"

Pascal Comeau was bored. He was sitting in the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport in Sevierville, Tennessee waiting for the rest of the contact team. Pascal stayed slumped in his plastic chair. He glanced at the other members of the Comacine security team, trying to evaluate the entertainment potential of his team mates. He gave up after a moment. They were all a lot older than him. The next youngest was Cheryl Sutherland, but she was former Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Her idea of fun would be kicking his ass while watching NASCAR. Atin Lono could be a lot of fun, he was older but his laid back attitude made him seem a lot younger. He was in a serious looking conversation with Greg Timmons, the security team leader. Pascal had to admit, they did look impressive together. Greg was only about 5'8", but seemed a lot taller because of his stocky build. His deep brown eyes were very large, making it easy to approach him despite his rippling biceps. He was one of those black guys that had perfect teeth; when he smiled Pascal swore he could blind half a room. Atin was a lot taller and dark skinned as well, but he was Samoan. He had a full traditional Pe'a tattoo from his lower back to just below his knees. Atin was wearing shorts so you could see the complex design on his legs. A lot of the yokels were staring, but Atin ignored them. He was good at that. The other member of the team, Miriam Rosenbaum, was in a deep conversation with Cheryl.

Pascal was restless with waiting for the medical team to show up. At least they were bringing Zip Valdez with them. They had met a few times and Zip was just a little younger than him, so they should be able to find something to do together. At least Zip wouldn't be obsessed with these two Winchester guys. He glanced at the older members of the team. For the past 24 hours all the old timers were swapping Winchester stories. All this drama over a couple of homeless Hunters. Pascal crossed his arms in annoyance. He was insulted that he was chosen to be on the team just because he was about the same age as the younger brother.

"We are trying to put the two of them more at ease," Greg had explained, "having a few people closer to their age will help. If things get physical, stay out of Sam and Dean's way. You're good, but you can't take Dean. Just try to be there for Sam." Try to be there? He wasn't a therapist!

Pascal was relieved to see Atin waving to someone and saw Mike Jensen's tall profile. Wait a second; was that Lin Yao Chin with him? Yes! This assignment had taken a turn for the better! She was a couple years older than him, but he'd had his eye on her since he was sixteen. Petite, gorgeous skin, long black hair with punk rock streaks of electric blue and blood red and a tongue piercing. Oh, the things he imagined she could do with that… Lin Yao only got away with her punk fashion sense because her boss was Jensen. Now that man knew how to have a good time, but when he was working he was the most dedicated hard ass you could ask for. The phrase 'work hard, play hard' had been created just for him. Pascal secretly idolized Mike Jensen. He grinned when he saw Zip tagging along at Lin Yao's elbow. The poor guy was barely taller that she was. As if he had a chance. After seeing Lin Yao, the rest of the medical team completely escaped his attention.

Pascal bounced to his feet, but collapsed back into his chair as he was hit with a severe case of vertigo. He gasped and his hands clutched the arm rests. Pascal's vision suddenly grayed.

Confusing flashes of images, like old black-and-white photographs that spun and twisted. A large oak tree. A cave bathed in a weird light. A guy about his age, crazy tall with shaggy dark hair. Two mangled bodies. A bloody quartz crystal. A woman in a dirty blue dress. A violent thunderstorm. A man with short hair and a face like an angry hawk ready to strike. Lightening ripping through the mountains and dancing around a field. Two inhuman, gigantically tall forms with talons for fingers. A sword shining in candlelight. A woman thrown against a stone altar, lying broken at its base. A wet, hissing cat. A tall kid yelling at Atin. An intense feeling of desperation, torment and rage.

Suddenly he was staring into the deep brown eyes of a tall man with long, jet black hair. Pascal felt a brief flash of regret from him before the man slammed his palm into his forehead.

Pascal's world tilted and he slid out of the chair and onto the floor retching. Damn it, he wasn't an uncontrolled seer! Pascal had never lost control like that. He was born into a Comacine family, he was trained from birth! Pascal's visions had never incapacitated him; they were always clear and crisp, almost always one hundred percent accurate. His vision range was short, generally only an hour or so into the future, but this felt like a lot longer than that.

Pascal flushed as he felt hands on him and distantly heard voices. No, this couldn't be a true vision. It was nothing other than a series of impressions, nothing useful at all.

Pascal tried to wave everyone off as he struggled back to his feet but he found himself pushed back into the chair. "Maudit, wha't'fuck? Pis tout'l'monde a croaqué… c'était comme un weird de rêve. Worriez pas, ej'ai juste buvais trop hier soir." he mumbled. (Damn, what the fuck? like everyone was dead… some kind of weird dream. Don't worry, I just had too much to drink last night. (Apologies to Acadiens, this is an approximation of Chiac.)

He blinked and saw Cheryl's impatient face above him. "English or French, Pascal, I don't speak Chiac." Pascal could hear Zip yapping excitedly about a dialect he didn't know, trying to translate what he'd just said. Just his luck to have a linguistics genius around for this.

"It's nothing," Pascal tried to sound casual as he looked around at the rest of the team. He was so embarrassed. No way was he going to confess to having a rogue vision. "Just had too much to drink last night." He felt a warm hand on his neck and glanced over to see LaShonda Miller's intense gaze. Pascal stifled a groan. Crap, there was no way he could hide this from her. The woman could scan a body and make a medical diagnosis with a touch; you didn't need an x-ray, CAT or MRI scan with her around.

"Bull shit," was her blunt diagnosis. "There isn't any alcohol in your system." LaShonda pinned him with an accusing glare, "You just had a rogue vision."

Pascal tried looking away, beyond embarrassed; this was a serious blow to his pride. Wherever he tried turning his gaze, he saw another team member looking at him.

Zip frowned. "Didn't you say something about people being dead?" Pascal groaned.

Atin knelt in front of him. "I can Feel that you're embarrassed, but you need to tell us what you saw." Pascal swallowed and looked up at Atin. He saw the other man frown as he took his chin. "Did you hit your head?" he asked.

Pascal was getting more confused. "No, why?"

Atin touched his forehead and Pascal was surprised that it was sore. "You have a bruise forming."

Greg appeared behind Atin, his face carefully nonjudgmental. Pascal might be a hell raiser when not on duty and paid a bit too much attention to the ladies, but he was solid. If he was having uncontrolled visions, something was very wrong about this mission.

With a little more encouragement, Pascal told them what he had Seen. Atin, Mike, Greg and Ben Jorgensen, a psychology expert kept exchanging looks. After he finished, Ben spoke softly. "Pascal, I don't think you had a rogue vision, I think that was a Visitation."

Pascal gaped at him, if anything, that was worse! He rapidly crossed himself, not something he did often. "I'm…I'm not some sort of…of…mystic!" Pascal spat out that last word.

Ben nodded his head, trying to calm him. "I don't think you are. Spirits can be opportunistic, and being a Seer, you were the easiest one to communicate with."

Greg looked troubled as he turned to Mike. "It sounds like there is some kind of inter-dimensional in the area. That's not something we are equipped to deal with. We were formed as a contact and extraction team. We usually leave this type of situation to the Knights. Should we still go in?"

Mike's face showed a flash of …was it obsession? "I say we still go in. The Winchesters could be in danger. We can call Hradani and ask her to contact the Knights for back up."

Greg nodded his head. This was going to be a Hell of a mission.

They brooded in the dark. They had failed to kill the new Warrior before he had been called. Who knew that the old Guardian still had so much skill or agility? The young Guardian and psychic Hunter were still vulnerable. All they needed was bait for the trap.

"Fuck," Dean swore softly from the passenger's side of Vera's truck.

"Still can't get a hold of Sam?" Vera asked tensely. They had left for the sheriff's station as soon as they told Jay what happened. Jay stayed behind to keep an eye on the farm and to answer any phone calls.

"It keeps saying that he is 'out of range'," he muttered. Dean's jaw kept working silently. Vera could see and feel his distress and knew he was holding back tears. She decided to give him some space, let him open up to her if he wanted to. She could understand holding back emotions when you had a job to do. Unfortunately, it could become a habit and carry over after the crisis had passed.

Vera shook her head. "Cell phone reception can be iffy up here. The storm coming in probably isn't helping. Why don't you try calling Betsy at the KOA office?"

Dean was silent for a moment. "I did that when you were talking to Jay. She saw him about an hour and a half ago when he came in for water. Betsy said she'll have him call the next time she sees him."

"Want to go and check on him after we get through at the sheriff's station?" Vera asked quietly. Dean nodded his head.

Neither of them said anything when Griffin emerged from hiding and settled himself into Dean's lap. Dean's only response was to pick up his familiar and snuggle him to his chest.

The atmosphere in the sheriff's office was one of crushing, oppressive grief. Kelly was crying quietly when Dean and Vera arrived. A little girl, blue-eyed with long blond hair stared at them as they came in. Dean couldn't shake the feeling that she was going to be important to him sometime in the future. Joe LeDonne had finally gone home to take a shower and change into a uniform. It was obvious that he was dreading it, but he had to subject himself to the private hell of the home he had shared with Martha, haunted by memories of just that morning. Griffin trotted at Dean's heels. It was obvious at this point that as long as they made sure he didn't get left behind, Griffin would stay with Dean. Dean was secretly comforted by the presence of his familiar.

Spencer, looking tired and worn, his uniform sweaty and his blond hair unusually unkempt, silently waved them into his office.

Spencer motioned them to take a seat. "Thank you for coming," Spencer said softly as he slid around the desk and sat down. Everyone's distress was so deep that when Griffin jumped onto the edge of Spencer's desk, no one even mentioned it. "Where's Sam?" Spencer asked with a concerned crease on his forehead.

Dean cleared his throat. "He's up at the KOA. Can't get in touch with him. We're driving up there after we leave here."

Spencer nodded. "LeDonne told you?" He asked without looking at Dean or Vera.

Dean was silent for a moment, hating the fact that Spencer was refusing to talk openly. "Yes."

Spencer finally looked at Dean. "We need another deputy." There was a strange silence in the office. It was as if time had stilled. Dean looked around at the dark wood paneling and deep green carpet of the room. Spencer looked down for a moment. "We need someone who knows how to deal with the situation." With a hand that trembled slightly, Spencer pulled a deputy's badge from his desk drawer and set it down in front of Dean. Griffin began sniffing it.

The sheriff looked into Dean's face. "I'm offering you a job." Spencer looked back down and shuffled some papers on his desk. "We can worry about the paperwork, uniform and name plate later."

Dean swallowed and just nodded, his jaw stiff and jutting. Spencer stood up and Dean did as well.

"Please raise your right hand and repeat after me." Spencer's voice was strong and firm, though gravelly with grief. Dean recited the Wake County deputy sheriff's oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of this state, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of a deputy sheriff of Wake County according to the best of my ability."

Later, when Dean took a closer look at his badge, he realized that Martha's blood was still embedded in the grooves of the engraving.

Sam was glad to be finishing up the last of the maintenance on the cabins. He was looking forward to being able to concentrate on training with Vera and learning how to use his abilities. Sam had confusing emotions where Jay was concerned. Sam liked him and was attracted to him, but he was afraid of Jay rejecting him and Dean's disapproval.

Sam was lost in his thoughts of the future when he first Felt something, like a pressure behind his ears. He shook his head and peered around the surrounding woods. All he saw was the typical lush summertime vegetation. Sam knew there was more to it than that, though, and quickly grounded and centered himself before strengthening his shield.

That is when he heard the screams. Sam checked for his cell phone before bolting after the anguished cries. He tried but couldn't get a signal on his cell. Sam looked around desperately, trying to pinpoint where the screams were coming from; they weren't stopping. Sam tensed in frustration. The only weapon he had with him was a hunting knife. Dean didn't want him carrying guns until he had more control.

Sam jumped off the cabin's porch ready to dive into the underbrush to find the source of the screaming. Suddenly Katie Wyler's ghost appeared in front of him.

Her dirty blue dress hung off her thin shoulder as it always did, and she was wringing her hands, looking agonized. "Be careful, Sam. There are two of them." Katie Wyler's blue eyes seemed to glow with pain. "She's my kin, please help her. Oh, be careful, there are two of them!" she shrieked before disappearing.

The light changed subtly, Sam noticed that the trees were no longer throwing such distinct shadows. He looked up and saw that it was getting cloudy; the leading edge of the storm was rolling in.

More screams. With a growl of frustration, Sam dashed into the underbrush toward the screams.

A demon smiled. The psychic Hunter had taken the bait.


	14. Comacine Invasion

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia Chapter 14: Comacine Invasion**

**Summary:** Dean and Vera search for Sam. The Comacines Find two new members.

**Warning:** A description of torture in this chapter.

Zipactonal Valdez shifted in the backseat; his ears kept popping as they steadily drove higher into the mountains. He gazed at the scenery drinking it all in. Zip had originally been scheduled to fly to Japan for a six-month total language immersion program. But then this mission had come up. This was his first mission and he was only 19, usually Order members weren't allowed in the field until they were 21 years old. Zip had been dreading going on another isolating language program; his stomach burned just thinking about it. He would much rather spend time getting to know other Order members. After five years he still didn't know many people.

Five years ago he had been "Found" by the Comacines, and as far as Zip was concerned, he wasn't found he was rescued. His parents, Nahuatl Indians from Mexico, were illegal immigrants but Zip was born in Houston. His parents had gone to the border to meet a relative who was entering the country illegally. There had been gunfire between two rival drug gangs, and his parents were caught in the crossfire. He was six years old and had been left with an elderly family "friend." The old woman had turned him and his six-month old sister over to Family and Children's Services as soon as she found out his parents were dead. Zip's sister had been adopted and her records sealed, so he didn't know where she was, or even what her name was anymore. He was sure her adoptive family had changed her traditional Nahuatl name, Eloxochitl, to something Anglo.

The whole team was on edge after the vision, or visitation, that Pascal had received. When Zip and Pascal were together they usually spoke in French and unless Cheryl was around no one else understood them; a fact that pleased Pascal. Initially Zip was thrilled when Pascal started speaking in a new dialect but as soon as he translated what was said it chilled him. People were dead and dying. What kind of situation were they going into?

The Comacines had rented three Dodge Grand Caravans to drive to the little town of Hamelin in Wake County which was a two-hour ride away. Zip and Pascal had ended up in one vehicle with Cheryl and LaShonda. Pascal was quiet then fell asleep for most of the ride. Zip wondered if it was because he was still shaken from the vision he had or whether he was bummed because he wasn't in the same car as Lin Yao. Zip could see the worry in Cheryl and LaShonda's eyes. LaShonda would reach back and touch Pascal's hand every so often while he was sleeping to monitor his vitals.

Zip was just as excited about actually getting to meet Comacines as he was about going on his first mission. Zip was meeting LaShonda and Cheryl for the first time on this mission. He decided to try to get to know them. During a lull in the conversation between the two older women he leaned up between the seats.

"LaShonda, so where are you from?"

LaShonda glanced over her shoulder, looking amused. "East Nashville."

"So this is like your backyard? How long have you lived here?"

LaShonda snorted. "Uh, no this isn't my back yard."

Zip looked puzzled. "But you know the area right?"

LaShonda rolled her eyes and glanced at Cheryl in the driver's seat. "Nashville is about a five hour drive from here!"

Zip smiled. "Oh, well it's my first time to Tennessee, so were you Found in Nashville?"

"Yes, I was found in Nashville."

Zip continued smiling, glad to have somebody to talk to. "I was born in Houston, lived in Chicago and I just finished a year of college in Atlanta, so I've never seen the countryside before."

LaShonda laughed "I'm not used to it either. Weird out here, isn't it? It's like we went back in time a hundred years."

Zip bounced slightly in his seat. "How about you Cheryl? I heard you speaking French, you're Canadian?"

Cheryl's lips twitched. "Yes, I'm from Halifax."

Zip was glad that he had someone else to practice French with. "You speak other languages LaShonda?"

Although Zip wasn't out in the field yet, his obsession with languages was already well known. The poor kid was one of the rare Comacines who had no psychic abilities, so he seemed to throw himself into his studies, probably trying to compensate. LaShonda smiled again, remembering how excited he was to hear Pascal speaking that rare French-Canadian dialect. "Yeah, Black Vernacular English, but I'm trying to learn Spanish."

If it were possible, Zip sounded even more excited. "Great, we could talk in Spanish if you want to practice."

LaShonda laughed. "Homeboy, I'm still trying to conjugate verbs!"

Zip looked puzzled. "Homeboy, that's a vernacular expression meaning what exactly?"

LaShonda smothered a giggle. "It means you're one of my crew." She was trying to make him feel like a member of the team. He was kind of an extra, being neither fish nor fowl. He was in intelligence, and wasn't part of either the medical or security teams.

Zip was confused, "Yes, I am part of this team."

"No, no..." LaShonda was trying not to laugh, "you don't know what a homeboy is? Where have you been most of your life?"

"Uh, Houston and Chicago. My parents were illegal immigrants from Mexico, but they weren't Latino, they were Nahuatl Indians."

LaShonda turned in the seat to look at him. "That explains a lot."

The poor kid looked so perplexed. "Really? Meaning what?"

LaShonda tried to put it gently. Zip seemed pretty clueless at times. "Why you don't understand...some things."

Zip thought it over, he often felt like he was out of step with everyone else. "I moved around a lot, I was in a lot of foster homes."

LaShonda glanced at Cheryl, her concern for him evident on her face. The foster care system could be brutal, especially to a small kid like him. "How many homes were you in?"

Zip shrugged his face unreadable and the enthusiasm went out of his voice. "I lost count, I ran away when I was 14 and was Found when I was hiding in a church."

She was quiet for a moment. "I was 15."

Zip perked up a bit, glad he wasn't the only one who had run away from a foster home. "Did you run away too?"

LaShonda's voice was expressionless, but there was a strange undercurrent to it. Cheryl suddenly felt excluded from the conversation. They were sharing something she could never understand. Cheryl became very quiet, realizing that Zip needed this.

"I guess you could say I did," LaShonda said quietly. "I was in a few foster homes myself. I ran away when I was 12."

Zip nodded. "I'm so happy I was Found, well more like rescued," he said, just a softly as LaShonda.

She smiled at that life changing memory. "I know what you mean. How long had you been on the streets?"

"Not too long, I was hiding in the church for maybe a month before Atin Found me. I had gone out to steal some food from the store when he caught me and then next thing I knew I was on a plane to Hawaii."

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, both Cheryl and LaShonda couldn't help but laugh. "I want a blow by blow of that someday," Cheryl said.

Zip giggled at the memory. "Yeah, he wasn't too happy when I bit him."

LaShonda was laughing so hard she almost couldn't talk. "So that's where he got that scar on his left shoulder!"

Zip turned red. "Well he was trying to kidnap me!" Cheryl was laughing so hard she had to pull over. Zip had to smile too. "I guess it was kinda funny."

"Well, that is not as bad as how I was Found." LaShonda calmed down and looked a bit more serious, trying not to trivialize what had happened to Zip.

"Who found you?" Zip asked.

"Ralph Benson."

Zip racked his memory. "Hmm, I haven't met him yet, but I think I heard of him; a security guy?"

LaShonda's face went blank. "Yeah, I asked him if he wanted a date."

"Oh, maybe it's not the same guy; I thought he was retired or something." The man Zip was thinking about was in his sixties and retired. He was about thirty years older than LaShonda and he couldn't imagine her being attracted to him.

LaShonda cleared her throat. "No, not that type of date." Cheryl pulled the van back on to the road and started driving again.

Zip was confused again. "What do you...?" Zip paused and got red again. "Oh, I understand. That must have been awkward when Ralph explained things to you."

She laughed. "I didn't believe a word of it."

"What convinced you? I was so hungry Atin bribed me with food, I figured I could escape later, not that I had much choice after he locked me in the trunk."

Cheryl choked and made a sputtering sound. "He put you in the trunk of his car!"

Zip sounded sheepish. "Yeah, after I bit him."

Cheryl started laughing again. "I'm going to have to get his side of the story!"

He sounded indignant. "Don't believe everything he says, he exaggerates!"

LaShonda smiled. "I bet. Don't feel too bad, I almost shot Ralph."

Zip was shocked. "Oh no! Wow, what happened?"

LaShonda shrugged, her voice subdued. "I was strung out at the time, wanted money for a fix. I offered a date, he turned me down, and I tried to rob him."

Zip was quiet for a moment and silence filled the car, save for Pascal's quiet snoring. "Yeah, it's a pretty unbelievable story hearing that all the Comacines are reincarnated and only other Comacines can recognize each other. I told Atin if that was true I'd have recognized him."

Both Cheryl and LaShonda laughed again. "I wish I could have seen his face!" Cheryl giggled.

"Me too," Zip said sorrowfully, "but I was still in the trunk."

LaShonda looked over her shoulder at Zip in disbelief. "You told him this through the trunk?"

"Yeah, after he kidnapped me from the parking lot, I fought him and bit him. He threw me in his trunk and then drove off. He was trying to convince me to calm down by offering me food, and I figured he'd drugged it, and wouldn't eat. I threatened to bite him again if he touched me. I was in the trunk a long time while he waited for backup to help with me. He parked the car in the lowest level of an underground parking garage to be sure I didn't get too hot and threw a bottle of water in to me. It took three people to get me calmed down enough to send me to Hawaii."

Cheryl had to pull off the road again, laughing, but LaShonda was quiet. She understood why Zip would be so upset at someone trying to touch him. They'd talk again without Cheryl or anyone else around.

Sam crashed through the underbrush toward the screams. He couldn't fix a location, just as he thought he was about to find the source it seemed to move. A part of his mind knew he should go back to the KOA office and call Dean, but the anguish of the screams drove him on.

The screams eventually led Sam to a small cave. He was sweating heavily and exhausted from running through the mid-August heat. The rain was just beginning to fall.

A horrific sight greeted him in the cave. Two gigantic, greenish figures were raping a young, blonde woman. Sam froze in fear, recognizing the two creatures from his dream. With a sick feeling in his stomach and his throat gagging, he realized that he was in way over his head.

One of the demons stopped anally raping the girl long enough to look at Sam, baring its short, sharp teeth in an eerie smile. "We have wanted to see you for a long time, Hunter." It extended a hand towards him and Sam felt he had just walked into a trap. "A deal; you take down your shields, and we let the girl go." It smirked. "More than a fair trade. We will have you anyway, but it would take days to break into your mind." 

The girl screamed again, and Sam couldn't bear to hear her cries echoing off the walls. He would do anything to stop it. He took a step forward, opening his mind.

Sam suddenly felt both his body and mind swept up into a crushing grip before feeling the earth whip away under his feet. He caught a glimpse of the young woman huddling naked on the floor of the cave sobbing as he was whisked away. A few moments later Sam felt his body slam into the floor of another, larger cave.

Then Sam was in Hell.

Starlight meekly submitted to Shade's grooming. Shade had bullied her onto the window seat in the library, and the two of them were laying in the fading sunlight as storm clouds rolled in. Ever since she became Sam's familiar, Shade had kept her close. Starlight was only about three months old and no longer had her mother and littermates, so she secretly enjoyed all of Shade's attention. Before Sam came, Star had been very lonely. Moving inside and having humans touching her all the time was stressful. Emma had caught her and kept her in a kitten crate for two weeks while she fed her and gave her medicines. After she was well again she didn't go back to the barns. Star, naturally a small kitten already, was stunted in her growth from almost starving to death. She was too petite to go back to the life of a feral cat.

Now things were good. Star had a human she adored and the other familiars had accepted her, even Jose, the dog. Shade treated her like her own kitten and Griffin was a good replacement for littermates. It was wonderful that Griffin had bonded with Sam's brother. Starlight never dreamed she could be so happy. Her human had things to learn, but he was smart, and she had every confidence in him.

Shade nudged her over on to her back to clean her chest and belly. Starlight rolled over submissively and exposed her throat lazily, eyes half closed. Her small body thrummed with her purrs as she began drifting off into an afternoon nap.

Starlight suddenly squalled in pain, her tiny paws beating the air. Shade jumped and stood over her, growling. "Child! What is it?"

Star mewled. "Sam! Something is hurting my human. Not just hurt pain, but mind pain, too." Her body shook with spasms under a new onslaught of pain.

Shade quickly called the other familiars. All of them, Jose the dog included, curled around Starlight to comfort and shield her, and to share her pain when they could bear it. Shade was both furious and petrified with fear. She was afraid Sam would hurt Starlight, and he had.

Mike Jensen was glad the town of Hamelin was so small. It made it easy to do all of their footwork, even if the locals were not too forthcoming. The townspeople seem to have adopted the Winchester brothers, something that Mike wondered about. Sam and Dean had spent most of their lives wandering, but they had been in this area for about a month and a half and it seemed like they had no plans to move on soon. It appeared they were making a place for themselves in the community.

Pascal, Zip and Lin Yao gleaned more information from the teens at Dent's Diner than the rest of the team had from the adults in the bar at the Mockingbird Inn. Hradani was right about the younger team members being able to help on this mission. The deaths of Deputy Martha Ayers and an old man earlier in the day had obviously upset the county; causing the locals to 'circle the wagons' and withdraw. The most the older team members had been able to get is that the Winchester brothers were "good boys." Apparently they had endeared themselves to the town by helping out a family that owned the nearby KOA.

The younger team members were able to get more helpful information. After Lin Yao had sat through about a half an hour listening to teenaged girls giggle about how the brothers were "totally hot"; she learned two very important things. First, the brothers had spent a lot of time in the local library and second, rumor was that they had moved in with the librarian to help with her farm. She also learned that the librarian, Dr. Kesterson, had a nephew about Sam's age who was 'cute'.

Mike was glad that the Winchester brothers were so attractive; otherwise they may not have gotten any information at all.

The older members left Lin Yao, Pascal and Zip at the diner to continue chatting up the local kids. They seemed to be having a good time and maybe they'd uncover some other helpful information. LaShonda elected to go to the diner as well to keep an eye on Pascal. They were all still worried about the Visitation he'd had that morning. Greg and Cheryl were going to the sheriff's station to see what information they could get there. Billy Ray McLean, a nurse practitioner that had joined the medical team a little late, had stayed behind at the Inn to see what he might be able to find out. He was the closest thing to a local, being from Birmingham. Miriam, Ben, Atin and Mike headed over to the library to see Dr. Kesterson.

The library was a bit of a surprise. It was very professional but relaxed. The ages ranged from children listening to story time to teens working on summer homework projects to older people reading and using the computers. It was obvious that this library had a central place in the local community.

There was a motherly looking woman behind the circulation desk. She was plump with dark curls and smiled as they approached her. She didn't seem to be put off by the fact that they were not locals; if anything, she seemed to puff herself up a bit.

"How can I help you?" she asked with a smile.

Ben returned her smile. "Dr. Kesterson?"

"Oh no," the woman said with a laugh, fluttering her hands, "Dr. Kesterson is out today. I'm Beulah Greer. Dr. Kesterson depends on me to take care of things when she's not here. Are you here about our special collection?" She was obviously proud of her position of trust with Dr. Kesterson.

Ben glanced at Mike. They both knew if you let people talk about what interested them most of the time you could steer the conversation to topics you wanted information about.

"Actually, we're here to see Dr. Kesterson on a personal matter, but we were going to ask her about the collection." Ben paused again and smiled, inviting Beulah to tell them about the collection. He was gently using his empathic ability to flatter her and flirt with her a bit.

"Oh, she's off today running errands and trying to get things done on that farm of hers. All her friends are away taking care of their kin right now. Seems like they are going through an awful spell of bad luck. Why, her nephew was arrested a while ago giving Indians their kin's bones back! Lordy, what is the world coming to when they arrest a young man for helping folks bury their kin decently! Scientists have no business keeping them." Beulah shook her head in disbelief. This was obviously another one of her pet subjects. "Well, let me tell you, Dr. Kesterson was fit to be tied. She called all kinds of people to get him out of jail. She was so mad I thought she was going to spit nails. Jay is staying with her up at the farm now, helping out. Him and those two friends of his."

Ben smiled, now they were getting somewhere. "Sam and Dean?" he asked.

Beulah laughed and fluttered her hands again. "Those two boys have been an absolute Godsend. First they help out Betsy and Jude Rice with their campground so they can stay open." Her voice dropped dramatically. "Poor Jude had colon cancer. He couldn't do the upkeep on the place. They would have had to close it down if it wasn't for those two boys. Let me tell you, the vultures were circling, thinking when Betsy had to sell they'd get that campground for almost nothing. We don't need any more outsiders coming in here; buying up land and putting in anymore of those fancy houses and looking down on us." The last was said with more venom than any of them could imagine the old lady could possess.

Some of the surprise must have shown on Ben's face. "Oh, Dr. Kesterson is nothing like them." Beulah assured him quickly. "Her and her friends bought the old Jones place, and they are fixing it up right nice. Keeping it as a proper working farm, with horses and gardens. Emma does heirloom garden vegetables." She puffed herself up a bit again. "Says we have some of the best strains of heirloom garden vegetables in the country! Real vegetables, not those hybrid things the scientists have come up with. She might write a story about it, and get it published in some fancy journal! Says our farmers can sell these vegetables and seeds for a lot more money than they're getting now!"

Ben and Atin glanced at each other. They had no idea what heirloom vegetables were. Emma must be one of Vera's roommates at the farm; best to play along as if they knew her. Atin was about to ask a question about Sam and Dean when the old woman started up again.

"And Dr. Kesterson came in here to take over the library. After she had been here a month I heard her a 'yelling down in the basement. Why I ran down there, thinking she'd hurt herself. Let me tell you she was fine, but awfully excited. She found a lot of old papers that she said were very important. She started making phone calls about getting those papers preserved. Why, we have some of the most important papers about American history in the country! Right here, in Wake County! She even got a government grant for the library. We were able to get new computers and actually hire some folks. I'm an assistant librarian now." Beulah was very proud this. Ben realized that this was probably her first job. "Some big time professors wanted to move those papers and Dr. Kesterson told them no. Said they belonged here and if they wanted to see them they had to come to Hamelin. Folks from all over the world call here about those papers. Why, Friday I talked to a fellow from Germany!" 

Ben acted suitably impressed. "I heard Sam and Dean have been spending a lot of time down here. Have they been helping with the collection?"

Beulah shook her head. "No, they've been putting all the old newspapers on microfilm and scanning them into the computer. Got a lot of good work done, too. They're good boys." Ben just smiled. That seemed to be the consensus in Wake County. "Now that Dean is a sheriff's deputy, I don't think he's going to have much time to volunteer at the library." Ben felt Atin stiffen behind him.

"Sheriff's deputy?" Ben asked mildly. "It doesn't seem like he's been here long enough to get a job like that."

The old woman's face crumpled. "Since Deputy Ayers and Old Rattler were killed this morning…." She broke off, upset. She cleared her throat and looked away briefly. "And all those other murders. I guess Sheriff's Arrowood figured since he was from a big city he'd know how to help. Deputy LeDonne is from a big city, too, and he's a good officer. Dean is a young man, and strong. And kind, he was always polite to all those young girls who flirted with him, but never took advantage of any of them. He has a way of making a woman feel special, and treated all those girls the same, no matter if they were pretty or not."

"What about Sam?" Atin probed.

"He's the quiet one of the two," Beulah said thoughtfully. "Tall drink of water. Skinny thing. Betsy said she had a time getting him to eat much. He was sick back last week, but he has his brother to take care of him. Not too long after they moved to Dr. Kesterson's farm to help her out, but Sam is still helping at the KOA."

Ben gave her his most winning smile. "Thank you, Mrs. Greer. My sister is an old college friend of Dr. Kesterson and I just happen to be in town. I don't want to bother her if she's running errands today. Do you think she'll be in tomorrow?"

"I think she should be." Beulah replied, still preening under his attention. "Would you like to leave a message?"

"No, but thank you for offering. We're going to look around a bit before we go. It was nice talking to you." Ben gave her a little wink. It had been very nice talking to her. She'd just given them exactly the type of information they needed.

"Good," Ben murmured as they moved away, nodding his blond head in satisfaction. "It sounds like Sam is withdrawing rather than lashing out. This'll make him easier to deal with."

"What about Dean becoming a deputy?" Atin sounded troubled. "If this community needs him, and it sounds like they do, we can't very well just pull him out of here."

"Let's try to find out more about Dr. Kesterson," Mike said thoughtfully. "That might give us some of the missing pieces, like her nephew. They're saying the Winchesters and Jay are friends, but how can they know each other that well?"

"Damn," Ben swore softly. "I should have tried getting Beulah to talk about the nephew more."

"I'll call Pascal," Miriam offered. "He's still at Dent's. Maybe he can get some of the local kids to talk about him. It sounds like the Kestersons haven't been here long. Maybe they can find out how long they've lived in the area."

Atin paused, stopping the others. "Look, Kesterson's office is over in the far corner." He glanced at Miriam, who grinned.

"Shall we?" She asked, her dark eyes sparkling with amusement.

Ben groaned. "I always feel like a sneak thief when I'm with you."

Mike shrugged. "We're probably not going to steal anything."

"Yeah," Miriam continued the justification, "if the Winchesters are living with her, we need to get information on her as well. Besides, I need to stay in practice." She allowed herself a smile as she ran her hand through her short black hair.

Mike laughed and nudged Ben's shoulder. "You always were too ethical for your own good. Snooping through other people's stuff is always fun. Being in medical, we don't get to do the cloak and dagger routine often. She's just a rural librarian, she probably won't even notice." Ben grumbled under his breath but the four of them drifted over to the office door.

Ben cleverly misdirected the attention of anyone in the area while Miriam opened the door with a quick flick of her mind. Unlike other times when they had to do things like this, they weren't in serious danger, so the four found themselves smothering laughs and giggles. They felt like kids on a lark.

That feeling quickly dropped away once they were inside Dr. Vera Kesterson's office.

"Fuck," Atin swore softly. The rest of the team was stunned. The office looked spartan, but there were wards and glyphs all over the walls. The room had been psychically sealed off and was heavily protected. There wasn't much in here physically except for a desk, two chairs, some prints on the wall and a mini fridge in the corner. Psychically and magically, the room was crammed full.

Mike looked in amazement at the wards. Miriam swallowed. "Golden Dawn, Wiccan, Oriental, Tibetan, Hindu, bindrunes…" she said softly before her voice trailed off.

"Why would a librarian feel the need to protect her office so heavily?" Ben asked softly.

"Because she's not just a librarian," Atin said grimly. "She's a major magical practitioner, and it looks like she's a psychic, too. This totally changes the situation."

Mike nodded. "Let's look around." Mike noticed diplomas on the walls. Undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, graduated about twenty years ago. The Masters and Ph.D. in library science had just been awarded two years earlier. Now they knew she had to have been the librarian here for less time than that.

Atin and Ben yelped at the same time. Mike whirled around. "Don't use your abilities," Ben gasped out. "She has the place trapped!"

Mike looked at Miriam. Her face was pale. "Mir?" Mike asked desperately.

"I've been bound," she whispered, horrified. Atin and Ben had similar expressions.

Mike swallowed. "Back to the hotel. We need to call the others. There is a lot more going on here than we thought."

Was this woman responsible for what happened to Pascal this morning? If so, Vera Kesterson had succeeded in crippling almost half the team, and they still hadn't even laid eyes on her yet. Their seer, a telekinetic, an empathy/reader and an empathy/psychic healer had all been neutralized except as physical back up. Mike was furious. Sam was powerful but open right now. Was she manipulating him for her own purposes? Had Jay, her nephew, lured them up here? Did she have psychic hooks in him to drain him dry? Was that why Sam had been sick a few days ago, wasn't eating and was so withdrawn?

Mike's eyes narrowed as they quickly crossed the town square returning to the Mockingbird Inn through the rain. Who ever Vera Kesterson was she'd obviously never had to deal with the Comacine Order. She was going to release the bindings on his team and release any hooks she had in Sam as soon as they found her. If Vera Kesterson refused, she would die. If they suspected she was also responsible for the local deaths, then she'd die anyways. The Comacines played for keeps.

There was almost total silence in the truck. The silence seemed to be a weapon, bludgeoning both Dean and Vera. Dean had felt something bad happen to Sam, and just a few moments later Jay had called letting them know that Star was reacting to whatever was going on with him. Dean cursed. Why hadn't he ordered Sam to stay at the farm?

Vera seemed to have a seizure and almost ran her truck off the road. She stopped the truck just in time before finding a place she could park.

"What is it?" Dean demanded rather than asked. Vera had gone pale.

"The wards on my office, someone has broken in there." She turned to Dean. "Whoever they are, they're all psychic. I don't know how many, but they sprung the binding traps."

"Shit!" Dean punched the dash. "What do we do?"

Vera swallowed and blinked. Dean suddenly realized how tired she was, how little reserves she had, despite her energy that morning.

"About my office, nothing. We need to find Sam." Vera reached over and grabbed Dean's wrist, gripping it with a deadly pressure, as if trying to convey how important the words were she was saying.

"If something happens," she began slowly, "I'm the expendable one." Dean stared at her for a moment before trying to reassure her. As he opened his mouth she snarled and shook him.

"This is going to get bad, Dean," Vera bit out. "Damn it, listen to me. I am the expendable one. You, Sam and Jay are the ones who aren't. Don't worry about Sam's training. The coven, Nora Bonesteel and Jay can cover that. It might take them longer, but they'll do okay. You and Sammy are Hunters, and Jay will be the Guardian here after me, all of you have to continue your families. If you don't the bastards win."

Vera paused for a second. "I've built the base for all of you. I didn't realize it at the time, but I have. Any good Priestess tries to organize things, make plans where if she has to leave, everything can continue on without her. A good Priestess tries to make herself redundant, teaches people and encourages them so they don't need her. Trains her replacements years, decades before anyone thinks they'll need to take charge. It might be hard, but all of you can go on without me. Any of the three of you dies, it all falls apart."

Dean looked at her and felt his stomach go cold. Vera's eyes were dialated and looked slightly unfocused. Was she having a vision? Was this why she was trying to warn him? Who were these people in her office? Part of him wanted to scream at her, to say 'you're wrong, we still need you'. He had known her, really known her, for less than a week, but he knew she was important to him and Sammy. Vera had already given them something invaluable in just a few days time. She had given them a home, and hope. She had given him Sammy back.

Logically, in the cold place in Dean's mind that he always fell back on when choices were hard, he knew Vera was right. If it were a choice between Sam, Jay or her, she was the one he would chose to die.

Dean didn't trivialize her by mouthing platitudes that they'd be all right. Vera would see through it, and it would just make her feel worse. It would make her feel alone, isolated. If there was a good chance she would die today, he'd suck it up and acknowledge it rather than be in denial. If she were brave enough to face the possibility of her death, then he could be brave enough to face it with her. He wouldn't let Vera feel like she was alone, even if he had to let her die.

Dean's mind went once again to a passage out of "The Art of War." 

_Thus generals have five dangerous weaknesses  
One committed to the dying can be slain.  
One committed to the living can be captured.  
One easily angered and hasty can be insulted.  
One obsessed with being righteous can be tainted and shamed.  
One who loves can be troubled._

He couldn't let himself fall into any of these traps. He must stay centered, that was the only way he could get as many people out of this alive as possible. There may be collateral damage; he may have to make sacrifices. Dean simply looked at Vera and nodded. "I'm going to do my best to be sure we all get out of this alive, but I know…" Dean trailed off, at a loss for words for once. "Get out and swap places with me, I'm driving the rest of the way."

Ravenmocker stood in the middle of the town square, furious. The Comacines thought to kill his Guardian? He couldn't affect events directly, that was one of the rules. He could only guide, comfort, inspire, and on rare occasions, give visions. He had spent years, decades, carefully nurturing the Kesterson family to bring them into Guardianship. Then the Winchesters wandered into his domain. It was too perfect, a new Guardian line and a potentially powerful new Hunter line. One had what the other lacked; they meshed too well together and would complement and strengthen one another. That is why he appeared to Dean. Dean reminded him of himself when he was still human, and he saw the path of horror and sorrow the Winchesters had before them. 

Now these Comacines, these outsiders, had dared to think about killing one of his Protected? His new Guardian who was struggling so hard to shoulder her responsibilities? The one he was so proud of, the Guardian that was one of the greatest Teachers the Light currently possessed, all because of the obsessions of one powerful man?

Ravenmocker laughed, he wasn't called a Trickster for nothing. The Thrones may rebuke him when this was done, but his Guardian would have a much better chance of survival. He would not kill any of the Comacines, they were Warriors of the Light as well, no matter how misguided they were or arrogant they had become in their power. He had no qualms about teaching them some humility, and Mike Jensen would regret the moment he had even thought about killing Vera Kesterson.

With a wicked grin, Ravenmocker set events in motion to disturb the Comacines very sense of how their world worked. Then he was going to have a very long and brutal talk with young Sammy.

Cheryl shivered as she passed the doorway of the sheriff's station with Greg. She wasn't much of an empath, but even she could feel the grief and desolation in this room. A young blonde woman sat behind the front desk, blue eyes bloodshot as she took a phone message. If anything, her expression was becoming grimmer. The nameplate on the desk said 'Kelly Stargill.' She glanced at them. "I'll be with you in a moment." Cheryl could tell by her expression she resented them requesting her attention.

"Your friend is wrong." Cheryl and Greg both whipped around to see a little girl sitting in a chair behind them. She was obviously related to Kelly Stargill. Her wide blue-gray eyes were somber. "You should ask my Mamaw Nora." 

Cheryl and Greg looked at each other, both stunned to meet such an obviously strong child psychic that had no trouble talking to them telepathically. Most psychic kids her age were beginning to withdraw and suppress their abilities. That she was still so open and in control could only mean one thing; someone was training her.

Greg shook his head. "Not one of ours, we leave her alone."

The two of them turned their attention back to Kelly, who Cheryl just noticed was heavily pregnant. She was apparently the dispatcher as well as the station secretary, she was on the radio.

"Beta one, we have a 10-69, Kathy Wyler, white female…"

A female voice abruptly interrupted her. "I know what Kathy Wyler looks like; she volunteers at the library for story time a few days a week."

Kelly looked annoyed. "Vera, what are you doing on the radio? You weren't deputized."

"Dean can't drive, talk on the radio and look at this sheet of ten codes all at once. Give me a minute to figure out what a 10-69 is."

Kelly was obviously gritting her teeth. Vera left the frequency on and they could hear her muttering "10-69, 10-69, reckless driver? No…"

They could hear a male voice come over the radio. "Give me that! Kelly wouldn't be calling us over a reckless driver! Haven't you memorized the list yet?" Greg and Cheryl glanced at each other. In most jurisdictions a 10-69 was a missing person.

"Forget the codes; just tell us what is going on. We don't have time to look at the damned list!" The male voice sounded angry.

"Deputy Winchester," Kelly began, obviously trying to hold on to some professional dignity, "we have a 10-84 here at the station." The male voice began to curse creatively. "Dean!" Kelly shouted "the frequency is still open!" She glanced at Greg and Cheryl, actually turning red. Greg tried to keep a grin off of his face.

Dean came back on the radio, "Vera finally figured out that the girl is missing and that you have visitors at the station. What do you want us to do?"

Kelly closed her eyes wearily. Dean Winchester was going to drive her to an early maternity leave at this rate. She was sure she could feel her blood pressure rising. "Just keep an eye out for her while you look for Sam and come back to the station when you find him."

"Uh, 10-4," Dean replied.

Kelly turned back to Greg and Cheryl. "How can I help you?" she asked without inflection, clearly projecting that they better not expect much.

Cheryl tried to hide their excitement. They were very close. "I'm Cheryl Sutherland and actually, I'm trying to contact Dean Winchester."

Kelly's eyes narrowed. "He's on patrol right now."

"I'm a friend of his father, John Winchester and I really need to get in contact with either him or his brother Sam." Cheryl continued misdirecting Kelly's attention. Greg was casually walking to the other side of Kelly's desk. Kelly just continued looking at Cheryl.

Cheryl gave her a winning smile. "Could I leave a message for him?"

"I'll relay it for you." Kelly offered ungraciously, obviously just wanting them out of the station.

"Beta one, I have a 10-14. A Cheryl Sutherland says she needs to contact you or your brother and she is a friend of your father." There was a long silence. "Repeat, you have a 10-14. Cheryl Sutherland attempting to contact you. 10-16?"

"10-4," Dean's voice sounded strained. "Just get her phone number and tell her I will contact her later. If LeDonne or Spencer are nearby, could you have them check Vera's office? It's been broken into."

Kelly blinked. "How do you know?" she trailed off with a glance at her daughter. "10-22 that last. 10-15 I'll call the library."

Kelly quickly jotted down the cell number that Cheryl gave her and was obviously glad to see them leave.

Leaving the station Greg grinned and flashed Cheryl the inside of his arm. Cheryl wasn't surprised to see three phone numbers and an address written there. They were so distracted the two of them almost ran down a woman going into the station.

Millie Fortner was in a hurry. Kathy Wyler was missing and she was on her way to talk with Kelly about how they were going to handle the search, considering something killed Martha and Rattler that morning. They couldn't call for volunteers the way they normally would. She had noticed that a large group of tourists had shown up earlier in the day and she hoped that they had enough sense to stay out of the woods. She glanced up at the sky; rain was beginning to fall and a bad storm was coming in. She guessed that it was a blessing in disguise, it should keep people inside.

Just as Millie got to the door of the station she was almost knocked down by a man and woman on their way out. She had to step aside to keep the tall brunette from walking into her. When the woman turned to apologize, Millie felt the world stop.

An electric current seemed to run up her spine and burst out her forehead. Millie rocked back on her heels; she knew this woman, and this man, too. She felt like someone had taken a board and hit her in the back of the head.

Cheryl couldn't help but smile. She had been Found herself just three years ago, but because of her experience in the Mounties she was able to go active within six months. She knew how much this middle-aged woman's life was about to change.

"Welcome to the Comacines."


	15. Grace

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 15: Grace**

**Summary:** The storm rolls in.

**Warning:** A description of torture in this chapter

The rain was beginning to fall steadily when Vera and Dean arrived at the KOA. Even though it was only mid-afternoon it was getting dark because of the storm clouds. They dashed into the office to find Betsy pacing behind the front desk.

"Dean! Thank God you're here. I was just about to call you. I haven't seen Sam for hours and now the storm is getting bad." Betsy Rice's wrinkled face looked like it had collapsed in on itself from worry.

Dean swallowed. "Yeah, I haven't been able to reach him on his cell, so we decided to come up and check on him." Betsy nodded and pointed to the area where Sam had been last working on the campground map. Dean and Vera quickly left the office running for the truck.

As they got back into the truck Dean was relieved to see that Griffin had stayed in the cab. He nipped Dean's arm in support as they drove away.

"I'm going to kill him," Dean fumed, hitting the steering wheel as they drove.

"Calm down," Vera breathed, "we'll find him, and if we don't find him we can scry him out." Dean nodded stiffly, glad that they had another way to find him. The rain began to come down harder, making it difficult to see.

Dean stopped the truck near Sam's last known location. After they searched for a few minutes, Vera yelled to Dean over the sound of the downpour. "I've found something!"

Dean ran through the rain, his clothing soaked and his hair plastered to his skull. Vera was on the porch of one of the cabins. She had found Sam's tools and a wheelbarrow. The tools were all neatly arranged. Dean felt hope rising in his chest. "Okay, we know that he wasn't snatched from here. Let's look around and see what we can find." He looked at Griffin. "Don't get lost; I don't need to be trying to find you too." Griffin just meowed pitifully, looking like a dirty, wet mop.

The three of them fanned out around the cabin, looking through the woods. After about ten minutes, Griffin came charging up to Dean and all but ran into his leg. The young cat squalled loudly, trying to get Dean's attention.

Dean looked down at his familiar, Griffin had alerted him to important things before, could he have found Sam? Dean yelled for Vera, and he could see her running toward him, stumbling and tripping through the underbrush. Damn it, she might be in good shape physically despite being tired, but she wasn't experienced or trained to do this type of hunting. To make matters worse, visibility was lessening with each passing moment. After Vera caught up to him they quickly followed the muddy cat.

A few feet away, Griffin stopped and started rooting through some leaves. Dean's heart sank in disappointment, thinking Griffin was after a mouse. He started to leave when Griffin attacked his leg, yowling at him and almost drawing blood through his jeans. Looking down Dean saw something silvery on the ground; he snatched it up and saw that it was Sammy's cell.

"Fuck!" Dean swore as he opened the phone. There was an unsent text message on it.

"Went hunting, woman screaming, send help."

Dean's breath caught in his throat as Vera gripped his arm. His first instinct was to rush off into the woods to save his baby brother.

"Think Dean," he told himself, "There are hundreds of acres of dense woods and a storm." His father had taught him too well about being prepared. He closed his eyes. As much as he disliked reading, there were a lot of simple truths in that book "Art of War." He couldn't remember the text word for word but it said something about the enemy being well rested while waiting on the battleground and the smart warrior is not goaded into rushing to find them.

This was a trap and he was unprepared. He was out here with an inexperienced Guardian and a cat. The only weapons they had between them was his Glock and a shotgun loaded with bird shot in the truck. Neither weapon would do much more than just piss off these demons. Vera was in shorts and her legs were already torn up, rain soaked rivulets of blood trickling down her legs.

They had no information on what type of demons they were facing. They were going on Vera's educated guesses. The demons were trying to goad them into rushing to the battleground to save Sam. They needed real weapons, supplies and back up. He would call LeDonne and go get Jay. The best chance of saving his little brother was to get organized first. These demons, whatever they were, took hours, even days to kill their prey. Dean just hoped they had enough time.

He looked up at Vera's grief stricken face, hoping that she wouldn't break. She was untried, untested, and tonight could overwhelm her, but he didn't dare leave her at home. Vera was the only one with the psychic and magical abilities to banish or destroy the creatures that had Sam. Jay was good, but he was young and didn't have the experience or knowledge that Vera did.

The bare comfort that Dean had was that she had given him permission to sacrifice her for his brother.

Nora Bonesteel sat with her hands covering her face in her living room, unable to watch the physical storm any longer. The young ones were out in this wild weather, and another uncontrolled storm of misunderstanding was brewing, every bit as deadly as the one outside her windows. She lifted her head to watch the rain pour into the valley below her mountain home.

She was old, so old. She knew age was advancing on her, but tonight she felt it. These new Hunters in the valley could very well destroy so much in their ignorance and misguided zeal. All Nora could do tonight was pray, and hope that the Good Lord heard her. Tonight's outcome had not been decided yet.

Fawn Harkryder hid between two vans in the parking lot of the Mockingbird Inn. She had seen her dad's truck and was terrified he would find her. Fawn had run away three days earlier.

Her family was well known in Wake County as violent, aggressive white trash. About half of her uncles and her dad had done hard time for assault, grand theft auto, rape and drug charges. In the twelve years of her life she had known nothing but neglect and abuse at the hands of her family.

If that wasn't bad enough, she was branded by her family's reputation. At school she was already considered a throw away by most of the teachers. No matter how hard she tried in class, or what type of grades she received, they always acted like she was a waste of their time. Two of her cousins and her older sister had been pregnant by fourteen, and everyone seemed to expect her to follow in their footsteps.

The problem was Fawn knew that there should be more to life than this. She seemed to have a different understanding of the world than the rest of her family, and they could never seem to understand her. It was like she had been switched at birth at the hospital, the only problem was she looked like the rest of the family; short, dirty blond hair and green eyes.

Everything had gotten worse when she started having dreams of the future. When she tried to tell her momma about them, all she got was a snarled "you ain't no Nora Bonesteel." She didn't tell them about her brother's dog, Rusty. He had torn his leg on some barbed wire and it had gotten infected. They didn't bother taking him to the vet, so he hobbled around on three legs, whimpering and looking pitiful until Fawn couldn't stand it any longer. She tried to clean the pus out of the dog's wounds. As she cleaned his leg with a wet washcloth, she was stunned to see the wound heal, leaving a nasty but health scab. She knew her family would never believe her.

Fawn just wanted out of Wake County. She wanted to go someplace where no one knew her or her family and would give her a chance. Fawn had dreams about being someone else sometimes. She knew she belonged somewhere, but it sure as hell wasn't Hamelin or anywhere near it.

Fawn decided to stay hidden between the vans until she saw her father's truck leave. It was beginning to rain, but she couldn't run the risk of her dad seeing her. She was terrified of being hauled back home. She'd rather stay out in the storm.

Fawn hunched in on herself, glad that the vans at least blocked part of the wind. She looked up to see a man and two women dashing through the storm, apparently in high spirits as they approached the Inn's entrance. Watching the three of them caused a strange ache in Fawn's chest. She was so caught up in watching the short black man, the older blonde and the brunette laughing that she didn't notice someone coming up behind her.

"Hey!" yelled a deep, masculine voice.

Startled, Fawn turned quickly to find herself just feet away from a tall man with bronzed skin and short black hair. He scowled at her for a moment before his eyes widened in surprise. Fawn knew this guy; she'd seen him in one of her dreams. They gawped at each other for a moment before the man snatched her up and began running through the rain to the Inn. "My, My d-dad…" Fawn stuttered. The tall Indian guy snarled, but she could tell that it wasn't at her. "Let him try."

Sam's pain suddenly subsided to a dull echo. He found himself lying on the forest floor, looking up into a canopy of jewel-toned leaves of various shades above him. The wind was blowing around the tree tops. Sam felt kind of disappointed. If this was Heaven, he was bored.

Suddenly something nudged his side. Sam looked over at a very furious looking guy with long black hair and a dark complexion. Sam recognized him from the dream he had about Old Rattler and Jessica. The only problem was he looked like he wanted to stomp Sam into the ground.

"Get up." Sam was chilled by the way his voice echoed out in the middle of the woods. Sam slowly climbed to his feet. It was strange; he knew he was still in the cave…

The mere thought jerked him back there for a second, to the almost fatally deep violation of his body, his life force being sucked out of him, the torment of his mind…

A slap staggered him where he stood and he was staring at the dark-haired man again. "I have worked hard enough to get you here and to try to protect your mind. Do not put yourself back there again. You have caused enough trouble and we still do not know how many more people will die today."

Sam stared blankly at him. "People have died? You're Ravenmocker?"

"Yes," he replied harshly. Sam thought he might see the spirit again someday, but not under these circumstances. "Martha Ayers and Old Rattler both Passed earlier today, and more may die because of your actions."

"Rattler is dead? What do you mean more will die because of me?" Sam asked bewildered.

"Even now your body is dying, all because you sold your life so cheaply."

Sam grew angry, "Yes, it was my choice to trade my life to save that girl. If I die, then I die. That's what being a Hunter is all about. That's what I've been raised to do, hunt things, save people."

Ravenmocker snarled, "Did your father teach you to run into a situation without preparation? Did he reward you when your foolish actions put him and your brother at risk while trying to save you?"

Sam shook his head recalling a few memories, in his chagrin he answered as if it was his father rebuking him, "No sir."

"Samuel, you do not realize the power that you possess. You treat this gift so lightly. Do you realize that the demons that are feeding on your body, mind and power are growing stronger? By the time you are dead they will become almost unstoppable. Eighteen are already dead, dozens perhaps hundreds more will follow."

Sam stood open mouthed, before sputtering. "It was a life for a life, Dean will stop them. He'll know what to do."

"Your brother and his search party are in grave danger, not only from the demons, but from the perils of this storm. Also, a rival Hunter group has arrived, but not to aid your brother. Even if they believed him they are not demon hunters."

"What do you mean?"

"Because you are missing the Hunters think that Vera may have killed you. Even now they are plotting to take her life, and perhaps Jay's as well. She is in a great deal of jeopardy, and will, in all likelihood, die tonight, either in the search for you or at the hands of these strange Hunters. It was not a life for a life Samuel. You have set events in motion for a massacre."

Sam grew frustrated, "Are you saying I just should have walked away and let them kill that girl? I'm a Hunter. I'm supposed to be willing to die for others."

"Her name is Kathy Wyler, and yes, you should have let her die."

Sam opened his mouth to argue, but Ravenmocker grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "You are not well versed in the ways of a warrior. A warrior does not lay his head so passively at his enemies' feet to seal not only his fate but the fate of those that he has sworn to protect as well as the fates of his fellow Hunters! You have put all my plans to continue the Kesterson guardian line into jeopardy. Even your familiar is in her final death throes."

Ravenmocker suddenly shoved him away. "Before you walked into this trap you knew you should have called for help. Why did you not get help?"

Sam looked down at the ground sorrowfully. He had been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice, eager to see Jessica again, but he never wanted his death to set off a chain of events that were becoming catastrophic.

"What can I do now?" he murmured.

"Resist them, for as long as you can," Ravenmocker said quietly. "I can not keep you here any longer and divide my power; I need to aid the others."

Sam blanched, resisting meant prolonging the agony. Grimly he nodded and the peaceful green bower disappeared to be replaced by the faces of his tormentors.

Ben Jorgensen was becoming more and more concerned. He was standing in a corner of Mike's very crowded suite as the team discussed the information they had gathered. Something was very wrong, and not just with the mission but the team as well. About the only thing that had gone well was that they had Found two members, but trying to explain things to them and calming down Fawn had taken up precious time. Millie was stunned, but accepting. Fawn, on the other hand, was almost manic with joy. She was one of the rare Foundlings that had some sketchy memories of her previous lives as a Comacine, so she had received them with spastic glee. Ben hated doing it, but they had to sedate the child just to keep her from being underfoot. She was sleeping in LaShonda's room after she had eaten her first decent meal in days.

Ben was uncomfortable with Mike's decision to execute Vera Kesterson. All the evidence they had against her was circumstantial. Mike was convinced she was behind the recent string of murders and that she was a danger to Sam. Yes, they might need to kill her, but he felt that they should investigate her further first. The only information they had on her came from the files of the Knights. They had her recorded on their rolls as a weak psychic but competent Pagan priestess. There was nothing to indicate that she was a danger, but there also wasn't anything indicating that she was anywhere near as powerful as the wards and traps on her office showed her to be. That could mean anything. He would be much more comfortable with orders to detain her while they finished investigating the situation. At least he had convinced Mike to detain Jay as a salvageable, misguided youth.

Ben exchanged glances with Atin, and his face showed concern as well. Mike was Ben's foster brother, and even with his empathic abilities bound, he could read Mike easily. He knew that seeing the Winchesters all those years ago had left a deep mark on him, but now he was beginning to show signs of a long suppressed obsession. Ben could understand his eagerness to find the brothers, check on their welfare, but right now he was also concerned about Mike's decision to take Sam in even though they hadn't had any direct contact with him yet. If Sam and Dean Winchester were settling down and becoming part of this community, snatching them out of here could be very detrimental to both of them, especially Sam. It would take away a sense of security and belonging that they had never had in their lives. If Sam wasn't rogue yet, and by all accounts he wasn't, then a confrontation and kidnapping could well send him over the edge.

Ben wondered if the entire team shouldn't just stand down and wait for the Knights and their own back up teams. The situation in Wake County was proving to be far more complex and dangerous than they thought. Pascal having a Visitation, a possible demonic infestation in the area, a powerful psychic/magician, two new Comacines, three of the team bound, and finding a psychic child that was obviously being trained by someone all within six hours. Then the Winchester brothers were thrown into the mix and their team leader was showing signs of obsession. He didn't want the younger team members, Pascal and Zip, to be exposed to this situation. They shouldn't have to see wet works this early, especially if the order was in doubt.

Ben slipped quietly out of the room, murmuring to Atin that he was going to check on Fawn. Atin just nodded, knowing that wasn't what he was going to do, but would relay that message to anyone who asked.

Ben walked quickly to his room, locking his door behind him. He dialed an international number on his cell.

"Yes, this is Ben Jorgensen on the Winchester contact team. I need to speak to Mistress Tudor, it is urgent."

"Sam Winchester is now 10-69. 10-17 Kesterson farm. Request Deputy LeDonne 10-25 Rice's KOA." Dean wasn't sure if he was using the police codes correctly and he really didn't care. He was only making the attempt to be sure half the damned county didn't try searching the woods tonight and become demon kibble.

"10-4," Kelly replied without yelling, so he thought he must not have screwed up the radio procedure too much. "Ranger Stargill will also 10-25 KOA." Dean swore; they didn't need anyone out there with them tonight that they might have to baby sit. He glanced at Vera's silent form in the passenger's seat. He already had to shepherd a green Guardian as it was. He was less worried about Griffin then Vera.

"10-4," Dean responded, trying to think of how to tell Kelly that this Ranger Stargill shouldn't come out. He couldn't think of any radio code to use. "Um, I don't think we will need the ranger," he blurted out, waiting for Kelly to start yelling again; he didn't have long to wait.

"Dean, Spencer requested Clayt's help the same time he requested Rattler's." Kelly's voice was strident; he realized that they were probably talking about her husband. Well, if he were a park ranger maybe they'd be all right. "Okay, 10-22" Dean responded.

Kelly seemed mollified by Dean's 10-22, which meant he was telling her to disregard his last comment. "10-4, the National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and a Flash Flood Watch. Millie Fortner now suspected 10-69." Vera roused for the first time in a long while. "Damn," she cursed softly, "Millie is the head of the emergency rescue squad." Dean nodded; his face grim in the dim light as the storm blotted out the sun. "10-4," he replied.

Deputy Martha Ayers and Old Rattler had been slaughtered earlier in the day. Deputy Joe LeDonne was almost killed. Now Sam and a girl were confirmed missing and the head of the emergency rescue team might be missing as well. Vera's office had been broken into by other psychics and she'd apparently had a premonition about her own death.

Dean had been in situations before with a low certainty of survival, but tonight looked like a new record.

Jay was waiting anxiously for them at the farm. Dean ran out to the Impala to get weapons and supplies while Vera went to change into protective clothing and gather up what she needed. Dean almost grabbed the journal but he was certain these demons weren't in there. Besides, exorcism rituals were part of Vera's job. Shit, they were getting low on holy water. At least he had plenty of salt.

By the time Dean got through ransacking the trunk and returned to the house Vera and Jay were both in the ritual room. Vera had pulled all the swords off the walls and had them all leaning against the main altar in the center of the room. Both of them had some sort of braided cords wrapped around their waist and Vera was putting on a necklace of black and amber colored beads. Dean was struck by how silent they were; Jay's eyes looked like they were twice as large as they should be. Dean was glad that Jay had worked with him and Sam on the Uktena job in Chattanooga; that had given Jay some experience. That was one less thing he had to worry about.

Vera was pale as she looked up at Dean. "You're going to have to scry while we're out there; I don't think we're going to be able to manage a map out in this."

Dean looked startled. "Wait, I'm going to have to scry?"

She nodded. "Remember, blood calls to blood, and you and Sam have a link. I'm going to have to concentrate on keeping us hidden from the demons. I…" Vera closed her eyes as her voice wavered for a moment. "I can't scry and hide us at the same time. I want Jay left free to deal with anything else that might come up. Do you have anything of Sam's, like hairs from his hair brush or a favorite item? Something that is actually a part of him would be best."

Dean gaped at her for a moment, he was going to scry? He had to pick out a component for a spell? Vera did tell him that he was a little psychic, and everyone could learn at least a little magic. Dean took a breath; this was new ground for all of them. "Let me go upstairs and look."

Dean took the stairs two at a time and quickly began rummaging through Sam's things. His eyes fell on a leather bundle and he felt like he had been shocked. Sam's blood, on quartz crystals; blood calls to blood, and both Sam's and his blood had been on the crystals for weeks. Even Dean knew that quartz crystals were used in magic to anchor and enhance spells. He snatched up the bundle and ran back downstairs.

Vera and Jay were talking quietly when he made it back to the ritual room. Shade was on the altar and Vera was petting her. The black, rabbit-like cat meowed pitifully once, Vera smiled sadly. "I understand," she murmured. "Go stay with Star." Shade nuzzled her hand once more then crawled back under the north altar with Star and the other familiars. Dean noticed that Griffin was frantically grooming himself on the floor at Vera's feet, looking as if he were trying to get his fur back in order. Dean couldn't help but smile, Griffin looked horrible. Dean plopped the bundle down on the altar and began untying it.

"What did you find?" Vera asked, curious as to why Dean had what looked like a small medicine bundle. Dean paused a second, realizing that yesterday he wouldn't have dared even touching the altars, but now he was throwing things on them like it was a work table and Vera wasn't protesting. There were so many implications in that he didn't even want to think about it right now. She gasped when she saw the crystals, seeing the brownish red smears on them. "Where did you get these?" She asked, reaching for one.

"In Chattanooga," Dean replied, his voice anxious. "They have mine and Sam's blood on them, will they work?"

Vera looked up at Dean quickly. "Perfect Dean, I can't think of anything better, but where did you get these? Why did you blood them?" Dean could see Jay franticly shaking his head. Dean scowled not understanding why Jay didn't want him to talk about it. Suddenly Vera started cursing.

"What?" Dean asked, worried.

"Light Feather!" Vera spat, "you got them from Light Feather!"

Dean stared at her for a moment, deciding that if they all survived this he was going to have to find out the extent of Vera's abilities. "How'd you know?" Dean asked.

"I can identify the energy signatures of anyone I've known or worked magic with. Light Feather has already keyed these crystals, and the spell was activated when you blooded them." She grimaced. "The bastard actually was helpful for once. There's a dual spell on these, one is keyed to your and Sam's location and the other portion is keyed to your life force. Light Feather has known all along where you've been and for some reason wants to know if you're dead or near death." She glared at Jay and he winced. "We'll talk about this later, right now; all I need to do is tweak the spell a little. It'll save us a lot of time."

Vera rummaged around under the main altar for a moment and pulled out a small plastic storage box. She extracted silver wire, wire cutters, pliers and a silver chain. Vera glanced at Dean. "Give me your ring." He didn't even ask why, he just pulled it off his finger and handed it over. Vera quickly wire wrapped the largest crystal, making a pendant of it before threading it through the silver chain and through Dean's ring, and then fastened the clasp, making a pendulum. She handed it to Dean. "You should feel a pull from the crystal, maybe some warmth. It'll get stronger the closer we get to Sam."

Dean looked at the red brown smears on the crystals. "But the rain, it'll wash off…" Vera cut him off quickly. "It doesn't matter, the blood has been there and the spell already activated. Magic reaches back through time as well as forward." Dean shook his head, wondering if the people of Wake County were ever going to stop surprising him.

Then Vera looked afraid again; she obviously steeled herself. Jay looked grim and resolute, making the teen look far older than he was for a moment. Dean suddenly felt a surge of hope, Jay was a psychic and magician; he'd already had a little experience. Dean was an experienced Hunter. Vera was considered one of the most knowledgable psychics and magicians in this part of the country and was a priestess as well. She might be inexperienced, but she was willing to sacrifice herself for the rest of them. Joe LeDonne was a vetern police officer, and the forest ranger was joining them.

They actually had a chance.

Then another thought occurred to Dean. Sammy was supposed to be even more powerful than Vera. If they all made it through tonight, then he would eventually lead a very powerful group; psychics and warriors, all at his command. He knew he was supposed to be a Hunt leader, but only at that moment did he realize what that really meant. Dean was both exhilarated and terrified. He was responsible for those that fought under him, and suddenly he felt a fierce protectiveness for all of them.

Then Dean's mind came back to more practical matters, like the fact he was out of holy water. "Is there a Catholic church nearby?"

Jay and Vera both looked at him like he was insane for a moment. Vera recovered first. "Um, you want to stop by and pray before we go? I'm sorry, but there are not many Catholics in this part of the country. There are a few Baptist churches we can stop by if you didn't mind."

Dean frowned then realized why they misunderstood. "No!" he said exasperated, "I'm out of holy water."

Jay smacked his forehead. Vera gave him an odd look. "Dean, I can bless water! Ye Gods, have you forgotten who you're taking to! Jay could bless water in a pinch!" She turned to her nephew, "Go bring in about a gallon of water." Jay scurried off down the hallway after giving Dean a disgusted look. 

"There's an iron cauldron under the West altar, haul it out for me." Vera's voice took on a quality of command he'd only heard her use a few times. She walked to the north altar and picked up a small crystal bowl before picking up a small silver knife from the main altar.

Dean hauled a small cauldron out and set it next to the main altar. "Uh, Jay is a priest too?" Dean asked weakly.

"Yes" Vera snapped, "he's had his first Initiation." Dean could hear the capitalization. "Anyone who has their first Initiation can function as a priest or priestess." About that time Jay jogged back into the room and poured about a gallon of water into the cauldron.

"Stand back," Vera muttered "give me some room to work." She held her hands over the cauldron and began to speak.

_"I exorcise you, O creature of Water  
Be cleansed!  
Cast out all impurities  
Take in all that is good and healing"_

Then she took up the crystal bowl; Dean could see that it was filled with salt. Vera held her hand over this as well.

_"I exorcise you, O creature of Earth  
Be cleansed!  
Cast out all impurities  
Take in all that is good and healing"_

Vera then used the small silver knife to scoop out three blade fulls of salt, then stirred the cauldron three times with the knife.

_"By the Power of the Lord and Lady  
Let the contents of this cauldron  
Be sanctified as a weapon against all that is unclean and unholy"_

She paused for a moment, both hands over the cauldron.

_"So mote it be"_

Jay echoed her last sentence. The surface of the water shimmered silver and glowed slightly for just a moment. Dean swallowed. Salt water sanctified in a cold iron cauldron and stirred with a silver blade. If that didn't affect the damned things they were hunting tonight they were in a lot more trouble than he thought.

After he and Jay finished filling water bottles Vera handed Jay one of the swords. Dean realized from its yellow sheath it was the one that usually hung over the East altar. Jay quickly fastened the belt around his waist. Vera held two swords in her hands, her face unreadable. One was from the main altar, the other from the north. After a few moments, she looked up at Dean and slowly offered him the sword from the main altar. Dean looked her in the eye, realizing that she was acknowledging him as the Hunt leader; it was a relief; he was afraid that she would try to take control tonight. Then he realized that he never should have worried. Vera was inexperienced, not stupid. They packed the supplies they needed into two of Jay's backpacks and headed out.

"10-17, KOA." Dean thought he would never want to see the inside of Vera's truck again. The police radio, the sick feeling in his stomach, his anxiety with leading his first Hunt team, Sammy accidentally attacking Vera, Vera telling him to let her die if he had to, Jay's disturbing silence in the back seat. There were too many bad memories in the cab already.

"10-4 Beta One. We have a possible 10-69, Fawn Hardryker, 12-year-old white female, blonde hair, green eyes. Missing since Friday evening." Dean stared at the radio for a moment before snapping his eyes back to the road.

"10-4. Friday evening?" Dean asked, it was Monday and a 12-year-old had been missing that long and just now someone was reporting it? 

Kelly's reply was clipped. "Ask Vera." Dean looked at her and Vera winced. "The family has a lot of…problems." She explained delicately.

Dean was getting exasperated. "Kelly, why don't you just tell me who's not missing?"

"Deputy Winchester!" Kelly's voice held that special tone that told Dean she was annoyed with him again.

Dean was grumbling under his breath when his cell rang. He didn't recognize the number on the caller ID so let it go to voicemail, he so didn't have time for this. Cheryl left Dean a message to call her, disappointed she couldn't reach him.

The rain was beating down on the truck by the time they got to the KOA office. The three of them dashed through the rain to get inside while thunder boomed overhead. Dean was relieved to see Joe LeDonne and a short, slender man with dirty blond hair in a park ranger's uniform waiting for them.

LeDonne quickly introduced everyone to Clayt Stargill. When Dean shook hands with the older man he was surprised. He seemed oddly gentle, but he held himself confidently and was strangely serene in the face of what events lay ahead of him. Dean wondered for a moment if he really knew what he was getting into.

Before he could talk with Clayt to be sure he understood; Joe quietly pulled Dean aside. "Dean, I don't think that Vera should go with us. She has no training or experience. She's just going to slow us down, and I'm not too sure about Jay either." Joe's voice was gruff and he seemed annoyed that Vera was even there.

Dean stared at him a moment. "Are you crazy? Of course she should go with us. We aren't hunting a disgruntled post office employee here."

Joe gave him a cold look. "What is she going to do? Throw books at it?" 

Dean grunted; did he think a chick couldn't hack it? "Vera is a Guardian; she knows magic, that's the only thing that's going to work against these demons."

Joe gave Vera a long look as she talked with Jay and Clayt. "Magic?" he scoffed. "We'd be better off bringing Rev. Bruce with us if it's a demon, wouldn't we?" 

Dean was getting impatient to find Sam; the man knew he'd been hunting things like this for a long time, why couldn't he just follow orders? "Yes, magic, you know rituals and exorcisms; kick ass stuff."

Joe just seemed to get more upset. "If she can't keep up with us what good is she going to be? Dean, I saw these things, she isn't going to be able to help us!"

Dean's face set into a grim scowl. "This isn't open for debate LeDonne, I'll get her there if I have to carry her, now let's go."

Joe's face was turning red. "She's just going to get killed like Martha!" 

Dean ground his teeth, Joe was using his outside voice and everyone noticed the conversation. Just great Joe, undermine Vera's already shaky confidence. Dean lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment. Great way to start off a life-threatening situation.

Dean raised his head and looked Joe in the eye. "Yeah, and we all could get killed here tonight. What's your point? Every time we hunt something like this, any of us could bite the big one. It's part of what we do." Dean noticed that Jay looked like he was about to bust out and start yelling at Joe himself, but he held back at a glance from Dean. Good, at least two of the people here weren't going to give him shit and would follow orders.

Oddly enough, it was Clayt that settled the dispute. "Joe, she needs to go." Clayt's voice was soft, but it carried well. "You may have seen it, but we can't do everything that needs to be done. I am willing to die to be sure she gets there. You don't understand...there are some things that bullets and brute force won't accomplish."

Dean raised an eyebrow at Clayt's declaration and nodded his head. "What he said." Well, that made three of them who were falling in line. Dean was curious about why Clayt said what he did, but he'd ask him about it later.

Joe looked furious. "Fine, what the hell are we supposed to be doing with these hunks of metal?" He asked as he waved around the sheathed sword Vera had given him. Dean noticed this one was the red sheathed sword from the south altar and she'd given Clayt the green sheathed sword from the west. Dean was going to have to ask the significance of all that. While Joe acted like she was handing him a dead fish Clayt had received his with respect bordering on reverence. 

Now he'd run across a park ranger who apparently knew about demons, Hunters and Pagan priestesses; he and Sam had definitely fallen into the Twilight Zone. Dean jerked his thoughts back the current situation. Wake County was a riddle wrapped in an enigma inside a mystery. He should just give up trying to figure it out and just accept the place for what it was.

For now he needed to do a little quick and dirty education for a new Hunter. "Did your bullets work Joe? Steel is one of the tools of the trade."

Joe looked darkly at the sword in his hand. Vera made an exasperated sound and rolled her eyes. "They're consecrated swords and live steel. With a little luck, they'll actually hurt the damned things. Are we ready to go before I get any more freaked?"

Dean nodded. "Come on, the longer we argue, the worse off Sammy and whoever else those demons have got are getting."

Things were tense among the Comacines at the Mockingbird Inn. Cheryl hadn't been able to get through to Dean. After the information they got at the library they knew somehow Light Feather out of Chattanooga may be involved.

But, the Comacine Order hated dealing with Light Feather. The bastard had shot and killed a young rogue psychic about a year before. The woman had been a telekinetic and fire starter. Yes, she had caused some serious injuries, but no deaths. She hadn't done any of it intentionally; she wasn't trying to hurt anyone. She didn't understand what was happening.

Light Feather knew they were in town to extract her and send her for training and therapy, but he still shot and killed her. The son of a bitch then told them they had no reason to be in his territory and to get out. That had been Pascal's first mission and he still had nightmares about it. He'd had a vision but they couldn't get there fast enough to stop it.

And there wasn't anything they could do about it. Light Feather was a local police officer and a Guardian. Even if he had killed an uncontrolled psychic with little or no provocation, they needed every Guardian they had. The good he did outweighed the bad in the long run.

They decided to go ahead and try calling Light Feather to see if they could get any useful information. One thing was certain; the bastard would make them pay for it. It was a matter of police record that the nephew, Jay Kesterson, had been arrested for the theft of Native American remains in Chattanooga. Maybe the Chattanooga area Guardian could tell them why he took them. Could Jay have stolen them for Vera? One of the darkest forms of magic, necromancy involved raising and coercing the spirits of the dead. They could be in a whole new world of trouble if Vera had a bound ghost working for her in addition to a demon or two.

Mike decided that Cheryl should make the call; she was the member of the team that had the most recent active law enforcement experience. She also hadn't had any direct dealing with Light Feather in the past, so Mike hoped she could keep her patience with him more than any of the others could.

Cheryl hoped she would be able to get in touch with Light Feather; she hadn't been able to contact Dean. She only hoped this phone call would be more successful.

"Good evening, this is the Pacer residence, Darcy speaking."

Cheryl raised her eyebrow at the chipper young woman's voice. They knew Light Feather didn't have any children, could this be a junior member of his team? "Hello, this is Cheryl Sutherland; I need to speak to Light Feather."

The young woman suddenly sounded even more respectful than she was before. "I am sorry, ma'am," Darcy said with carefully good manners, "but he is transporting a prisoner right now. Can I take a message or help you in any way?"

Cheryl smiled, an easily impressed young woman might be better than talking to Light Feather himself. "Perhaps you can Darcy. I'm with the Comacine Order."

The girl gasped. "Yes ma'am!"

Cheryl smirked, now they just had to hope she actually knew something. "About two months ago, a young man named Jay Kesterson was arrested in Chattanooga. Do you know anything about the circumstances of his arrest?"

"Oh!" Cheryl could tell she was about to get something. Darcy sounded excited. "Yeah, I know Jay. He was arrested for stealing Native American remains and artifacts from the UTC archaeology lab."

Good she knew something. Now to see if she knew the reasons why Jay took them. "Were the remains ever recovered?"

Darcy hesitated. "Well, not officially."

Cheryl was a bit relieved, Darcy sounded like she knew something. "So you know where they are?"

"Ummm..."

Cheryl suppressed a grunt of frustration. "I only am trying to ascertain whether Jay passed the bones on to someone else or if Light Feather recovered them."

Darcy continued to hesitate. "Uh, um, well, ah...neither one of them have them."

Cheryl bit her lip. The girl was talking in circles. "Does Light Feather know where they are?"

"Umm...he's a police officer, you know?" Cheryl threw her free hand up in irritation. She decided to try another subject.

"Darcy, was Jay in touch with either Sam or Dean Winchester?"

The girl perked up. "Oh yeah, Sam and Dean were here about two months ago."

Cheryl smiled. The famous Winchester charm was working for them again. "Really?" She said, trying to be casual. "Do you know how they met?"

Darcy sounded enthusiastic about the subject. Bingo. "Sam and Dean were down here on a Hunt and ran into Jay. They took care of it."

Cheryl blinked. "Sam, Dean and Jay took care of what exactly?"

"An Uktena; pretty nasty. Dean was almost killed here," Darcy paused for dramatic effect, "but Jay got him to the hospital in time."

Cheryl was puzzled. She had put two and two together and wondered if the bones were linked to the hunt somehow. "And yet only Jay went to prison, I wonder why?"

Oh," Darcy chirped, "everybody knows that. Jay wouldn't give them up, he might be a Kesterson, but he's not a snitch and Light Feather helped with it, too."

Cheryl was trying to keep up with who was on first. "So Light Feather helped Jay, Dean and Sam kill the Uktena?" Mike started talking excitedly as soon as he heard the word 'Uktena'. Cheryl waived him silent.

"Yes."

Cheryl nibbled her lip and decided to get a little more aggressive. "How was Sam doing at the time?"

Darcy sighed like a pining twelve-year-old who was worried about a boy she had a crush on. "He didn't look too good. Light Feather thought he might be going rogue."

Cheryl gulped. Light Feather wasn't known for being compassionate to rogues. "What did Light Feather do to him?"

Darcy sounded confused. "Do to him? What do you mean?"

"Did Light Feather get Sam any help?"

Darcy seemed to be even more confused at Cheryl's question. "No. Why would he? He was going to ask him to stay if Dean...if he was left alone, but he had his brother."

Comprehension dawned on Cheryl. Light Feather wasn't going to help Sam or anyone else if there wasn't something in it for him. He was hoping that Dean would die so he could recruit a grieving Sam. "Of course, well we are only a phone call away. If he runs into any more rogue psychics, have him call me, okay? Tell them we'll make it worth his while." Cheryl gave the young woman her cell number and said her goodbyes.

Cheryl relayed what she had learned to the rest of the team. Jay Kesterson was turning out to be more important than they thought.

Dean was deeply grateful for Clayt's help. He had insisted on bringing and using professional search and rescue equipment and procedures until they picked up Sam's trail. They all wore climbing helmets with headlamps attached, protective rain ponchos and they all carried whistles to signal each other. The pendulum Vera had made for him was working, but Sam had been all over the campground and the surrounding area. They had to work to find the trail. The group started from where Sam's cell phone was found. They fanned out; staying within hearing distance to find any more clues to the direction Sam might have taken. Jay took the east position, LeDonne north, next Dean and Vera stayed together and Clayt to the west. Clayt found a trail of broken branches and the others fell in behind him as he marked the trail with brightly colored plastic tags. Clayt wasn't taking any chances; if any of them got separated from the others he wanted them to be able to find the way back. After about ten minutes the trail seemed to vanish and they had to fan out again.

Suddenly the rain began to let up and the sky was a bit lighter. "I think the worst of the storm is over!" Dean yelled, encouraged that conditions were getting better. Clayt and Joe shook their heads. "I'm sorry Dean," Vera told him, "the first wave of storms are moving out, there's at least two more after this one. We need to hurry and take advantage of the break between them." Disappointment clutched at his heart.

The next wave of the storm came in before they picked up the trail again. The rain came in downpours, knocking leaves off of trees. The rain was causing small streams to seem to appear out of nowhere, making footing treacherous, and the forest floor was littered with stones, underbrush and dead leaves. They had to navigate steep hills and small mountains out in the hellish weather. Dean wanted to scream in frustration, they were not covering nearly as much ground as he had hoped. They were all stumbling around in the near darkness, and to make matters worse, thunder and lightning seemed to be howling towards them, making it hard to hear and temporarily blinding them when lightning flashed. Vera turned out to be less of a problem then he thought; no one could make good time out here. They shouldn't have bothered with the ponchos, they were all drenched anyways.

Dean, out of despair, was ready to call off the search until the storm passed. They were having a hard time scrying out Sam's trail and the storm was becoming deadly. It wouldn't do Sam any good if they were injured out in this storm. Dean was debating calling off the search for a few hours when Vera almost knocked him over to get his attention. She blew her whistle and pointed frantically up a slight hill to their right.

Dean was surprised to see what Vera was pointing at. The gaunt, matted haired woman in a dirty blue dress was urgently beckoning them to follow her. Was this the ghost of Katie Wyler? She had spoken to Sam before, giving him warnings. Could she be leading them to him? Jay, LeDonne and Clayt stumbled through the rain to catch up with them.

Even with Katie leading them, their progress was agonizingly slow. Katie kept running ahead of them, and they would lose sight of her before she would run back and beckon them again. She never got too close to them, staying at least twenty feet away, almost as she were both afraid and desperate to help them. Dean guessed all of the supernatural fighting weapons they had with them was making the apparently benevolent spirit nervous.

They followed her for what seemed like miles, making Dean concerned because he was picking up nothing from the pendulum. Katie hovered next to a rocky outcrop for a few moments before disappearing into some underbrush. Was there a cave under there? Suddenly the pendulum began to tug at him, leading him to the outcropping. He stopped to be sure everybody caught up. The Hunt team crowded around him so they could all hear. "This could be it!" Dean yelled over the sound of the storm. Lightning struck nearby, just the next ridge over, sending thunder rolling over all of them. Dean looked skyward in desperation for the thunder to finish. Joe and Clayt looked like they were holding up well; Jay looked like he had been dragged through a mud hole and had some scrapes on his face but otherwise looked good. The teen looked like new knight on his first holy crusade and would rather die than admit to any weakness. Dean couldn't help but smile. Vera…Vera looked pale, the bandage on her left hand was mostly torn off and he could see the torn stitches. Damn it. It seemed liked he had thrown the picture at her months ago, but it had only been Thursday, four days before. Then she had torn it back open again on Friday when she went after Sam. The look in her eyes calmed him; they were hard and glittered in the dim light.

"Joe and Clayt, you go in with me first, Jay, stay with your aunt until we whistle for you. I'll take point." Dean felt his throat getting raw with the effort of screaming over the storm. There was no way he was letting Vera walk into that cave blind.

Dean led the way as they slowly pushed through the brush; he felt a jolt of adrenalin as he saw broken branches. After pushing through a bit further he saw a large crevasse in the rocks. Dean slowly eased his head into the narrow space.

His headlamp at first only showed an uneven back wall about twenty feet away and a lumpy, uneven floor. He could hear some shuffling near the back and then recognized uneven breathing. Dean had a shotgun in one hand and a sword in the other as he dashed sideways into the cave. He heard a stifled cry and something moving across the cave floor. Dean moved quietly around the side of a small boulder and found himself staring down into the face of a kneeling, hunched over young girl. Her face was bruised and there was blood crusted all over her lower face from her nose. He realized she was nude, her body battered and bruised. This must be Kathy Wyler. The girls started crying in despair, cowering at his feet. Dean suddenly realized what he must look like to her; an angry man she didn't know holding a sword and a shotgun. He stepped away from her and quickly blew the whistle to call everyone else in. Dean laid down his weapons after a quick scan of the cave and knelt next to the broken girl.

"Hey, hey," he tried to get her attention without touching her. "We've been looking for you. You're Kathy, right?" The girl stopped crying long enough to peer up at Dean through her hair, matted with blood and sweat. The rest of his team came piling into the small cave. Clayt's gentle eyes hardened and Vera shoved people out of the way to get to Kathy. She draped her rain poncho over the girl, covering her nakedness. Vera gently clutched the young woman to her, murmuring something that Dean couldn't make out. LeDonne looked on impassively; he'd seen far too many sexual assault victims. Jay looked like he was going to be sick. Dean's glance told him to suck it up. Jay would be seeing scenes like this way too often. Clayt pulled out an emergency blanket for Kathy to wrap up in.

"Kathy," Dean asked her urgently, trying to be gentle. "My brother, Sam, tall guy; do you know what happened to him? Was he here?" Kathy whimpered as Vera gently brushed dried blood and matted hair away from her face. "He…" Kathy's voice faltered. "He traded…himself...for me." She hasped out before collapsing again.

"Clayt, Jay, take Kathy back to the campground. Jay, get home as soon as you can; be careful, there are other psychics in town and we don't know what they want. Stay there until you hear from one of us." Jay nodded. Vera looked at Kathy and opened her mouth to say something before she closed it. Dean could tell Kathy's condition had touched something deep in the older woman.

The horrific evidence of Kathy's brutal rape was lessened by the fact that she was still alive. The pendulum that Vera had made was pulling him strongly now, they had the trail, and Dean knew they wouldn't loose it again. He felt Griffin coiling around his legs. Dean felt a stab of guilt; he'd forgotten his familiar was with them.

After they all made their way out of the cave Jay stopped and pointed down into a hollow below them. Katie Wyler stood there, glowing slightly through the rain and thunder, arms outreached. Her dress was no longer dirty or ragged, and she no longer looked on the verge of starvation. She was clean and dry, in a sturdy, well made blue dress, her glossy brown hair in waves around her face.

_Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,  
That saved a wretch like me.  
I once was lost, but now I'm found,  
Was bound, but now I'm free._

_T'was Grace that taught...  
my heart to fear.  
And Grace, my fears relieved.  
How precious did that Grace appear...  
the hour I first believed._

_The Lord has promised good to me...  
His word my hope secures.  
He will my shield and portion be...  
as long as life endures._

The hymn echoed through woods, both eerie and strangely beautiful. This was a version of Amazing Grace Dean had never heard. An odd finger of light reached down to Katie, and he could see her body slowly absorb into it. Her face showed a mingling of joy, fear, relief and hope. Even as her body disappeared and there was only light left, they could still hear her sing.

_Through many dangers, toils and snares...  
we have already come.  
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...  
and Grace will lead us home._

_authors notes_

The ritual Vera does is taken from 'traditional' (whatever that means these days) Wiccan sources.

**Author's Note (Atana):**  
There are several alternate verses to the song Amazing Grace. This is the first version I heard as a child. It was sung in a small Church of God that my grandfather was the minister of in Eastern Tennessee almost thirty years ago. - Lee


	16. Tempest

**Death in Appalachia Chapter 16: Tempest Tossed**

**Summary:** Time is running out as the storms grow more violent. Very old blood calls to new blood in some unexpected ways.

**WARNING:** This chapter contains disturbing descriptions of rape and torture.

Pascal had slipped off to his room with some lame excuse, just wanting to be alone for a while. He had the nagging feeling that they were overlooking something. Up until a month ago, Pascal's visions were simple, his duty clear. He never could see very far into the future, an hour at the most, so his visions were realistic and not symbolic. But now, his visions were like jigsaw puzzle pieces, and he was trying to put it all together without seeing the picture on the box.

If only he had more time! Pascal wished everything would slow down, but events, like the storm outside, were moving too swiftly and violently. The team was rushing to some terrible climax; and he was racing to figure it all out. Something was very wrong, that Visitation he'd had in the airport was proof of that. Yet none of his team members were taking it seriously enough.

Even though he was a Seer, Pascal was a junior team member so his opinions were not given much weight. Of course it didn't help his cause that his shields had been wavering. It started gradually, after his very first mission, and had gotten steadily worse. This past month had been difficult and it took more and more of his energy to keep them stabilized. Then that Being, he was sure it was an angel, had battered its way through his shields at the airport. Whatever was going down tonight, it must be vital. He was just glad they had found photos of the Winchester brothers and Jay Kesterson, it helped him know who his visions were about.

Pascal lay down on his bed. If this Being was trying to get his attention, then it would be better if he sought it out, rather than the other way around. He didn't think his shields could stand another battering like earlier. After a few moments of meditation, Pascal was surprised at how quickly he slipped into a trance and was thrust into the most vivid vision he ever had.

_He Saw Jay Kesterson sitting in a jail cell. Pascal could hear the seconds ticking on a wall clock, and could feel the teen agonizing over his future..._

...An old woman sitting on a stone bench, weeping. A storm was rolling in, beginning to blot out the sun. Her pain was heart-rending. She held an ancient Bible in her hand, her finger next to a passage that Pascal could read. It was Matthew 7:1-2. "Judge not least ye be judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." Pascal could see a small, ancient graveyard. The few headstones he could read all had the last name "Bonesteel" carved into them...

...A dark-haired woman leaning with both hands on an altar, looking exhausted. "As always, thank you for this chance to Serve You." Dean Winchester going to stand next to her, putting a concerned hand on her back as a grey-and-white cat had joined them. They shared a sad smile...

...Zip laughing like he had never heard him laugh before, playing in a swimming pool with Sam Winchester...

...A horribly mangled corpse, face all but flayed, hair completely matted with blood. Suddenly it opened its eyes and screamed in pain. Oh God, it was still alive! Two pairs of gentle hands touched the body, bringing healing and comfort. Pascal recognized the hands immediately; they were Mike and Ben's...

...Inside a cave bathed in hellish light, a sword thrust into the ground, a bleeding hand clasped around the blade. Dark red rivulets were trickling down the sword like a self sacrifice into the soil beneath. A voice echoing off the cave walls crying out 'Blood calls to blood!'...

...The dark-haired woman was now lying at the base of a stone altar, her throat slit and her green eyes wide and staring. Jay kneeling next to her in the bloody mud, his face contorted. He thrust his hand into the blood drenched soil while screaming unintelligibly...

...Jay, Sam and Dean, standing side by side along with members of the Priory, attacking and pulling down the standard of the Order of the Comacine Masters. Pascal thrashed in denial, the Priory was also of the Light...

...Then Pascal saw the same long-haired, tall and dark-skinned man, the angel he had seen earlier. Ravenmocker! "I can do no more for you." The man shoved him backwards...

Pascal rolled off the bed, shaking. He slumped to the floor cross-legged, back against the bed. Slitting the throat was the Comacine preferred method of execution for uncontrollable rogues and evil mages and psychics. Done right, the victim bled out in seconds, making it one of the least painful ways to die without mangling the corpse too badly. Was the dark-haired woman Vera Kesterson?

Why would Sam and Dean Winchester try to destroy the Order? If they were trying to destroy the Order, why was Sam with Zip in a swimming pool? Why was Dean with Vera Kesterson? What connection did the Winchesters have with the Priory?

The old woman sitting in the graveyard, it could be symbolic but yet it felt very realistic too. All the tombstones had the same last name, Bonesteel. Guardians often lived and died in the same area they were born in, generation after generation. Could this old woman be a Guardian? The little girl in the sheriff's office mentioned a 'Mamaw' Nora. The word mamaw was similar to the French word 'mémère' a child's way of saying grandmother. The child was a strong psychic and someone was obviously training her; was the little girl and Nora more important than they realized?

Ravenmocker, how did he know Ravenmocker?

What did the Priory pulling down the Comacine standard mean? The two Orders didn't always get along, but why would they turn on them? Pascal dropped his head into his hands. For some reason, tonight could cause the fall of the Full Order of the Comacine Masters.

He heard a knock on the door and went to answer it. Pascal was surprised, then happy to see Zip. Here was someone he could talk to and would believe him. He yanked Zip into the room quickly.

"Listen!" Pascal began urgently, "you've got to help me…"

8

Sam thought he was going to go deaf from the sounds of his own screams echoing off the cave walls. That is, when the physical pain stopped long enough for him to think. He had watched in horror as they crushed the fingers on his left hand one at a time. The two demons did pause in their rape and torture of him every so often to gloat. Sam knew even if he survived, he'd be maimed for life.

Sam wasn't vain, but when they sliced up his face with their claws his mind shrieked at the thought of how disfigured he would be. Young children would be afraid of him.

The only parts of his body that didn't disfigure, defile or torture were his throat and eyes. Sam realized they were feeding on his agony; they swallowed his pain, torment and grief like delicacies. They wanted to hear his screams and for him to see what they were doing to him.

Sam wanted so badly to let go, for it all to end. He realized that it took more courage and will to live rather than to die.

8

It was past supper time and Kelly Stargill was still on duty at the sheriff's office monitoring the radio. Sheriff Spencer Arrowood was interviewing Fawn Harkryder's father in the bar at the Mockingbird Inn. Kelly was certain Fawn either ran away from home or met with a tragic fate at the hands of her family. Her husband, Ranger Clayt Stargill, Deputy Winchester, Deputy LeDonne, and the librarian, Dr. Kesterson and her nephew Jay were all out in one of the worst storms she had seen in a long time looking for Sam Winchester. At least they had some clues that Sam never left the KOA. The other missing people were a mystery, it was like Kathy Wyler and Millie Fortner just vanished into thin air. Both of them not long after these flatlanders came into town.

She wondered who the hell these flatlanders thought they were, asking questions about the Kestersons and Winchesters. Kelly wasn't about to break the code of silence for Guardians and Hunters. Her own daughter, Kayla, would someday be a Guardian for this community, as would her unborn son Daniel. That was why her husband Clayt was so willing to go out in this storm tonight to find Sam Winchester. The Kestersons and Winchesters would bridge the generation gap between Nora and her children.

Kelly sighed and looked over at her ten-year-old daughter Kayla who was now staring at the door like she was expecting someone to walk in. Cheryl Sutherland, that flatlander from earlier and a young man she didn't recognize entered. Kelly almost growled.

Pascal looked at the little girl and felt a sudden shiver. Not only was this girl another Seer but she had a powerful energy surrounding her, earth energy. Pascal was stunned, only strong Empaths could tell the different psychic energies and they usually had to touch the person. Pascal touched Cheryl's arm as she was going to speak. Working on a hunch, Pascal gave the little girl the traditional greeting of a Hunter or Order that has entered a Guardian's territory. "We don't want to hurt you Guardian. We came in peace." The child's blue eyes blinked. "Hunter, if ye come in peace, welcome you are." Pascal shivered again, he Felt another, greater power at work here.

Cheryl felt like she had been gut punched. Pascal had recognized a Guardian on sight. While it was possible for other Guardians to recognize one another certain conditions had to be met, which usually involved mysticism. Cheryl set aside that thought to review the implications later. The child had used an archaic form of the greeting, but she had responded correctly. There must be a Guardian line here that no one had on their Rolls, a Guardian line that had been out of contact with the larger community for a long time. This area was so isolated that it made sense.

Kelly recoiled from them, how did they know? "Come here Kayla." Kelly put her arms around her daughter protectively and continued to glare at the two strangers. Nora had told her sometimes young Guardians were targeted. After a moment, Kelly looked at Kayla and said "Go color in Spencer's office, ok?"  
As soon as the office door was closed, Kelly rounded on them, "How dare you speak to her!"

"When I was here earlier," Cheryl responded, "Your daughter told us we should speak to Mamaw Nora. This would be her teacher?" Cheryl felt like she was playing a game and she didn't know the rules. Wake County was like another civilization, and none of the Comacines had any idea what the laws or customs were.

Pascal thought of his earlier vision, "Bonesteel, an elderly woman? I Saw her in a vision today. We really need to talk to her."

Kelly regarded them suspiciously and a little fearfully, how did they know Kayla was a Guardian? "What do you people want? You've been snooping around town all day today asking about the Kestersons and the Winchesters and you're probably the ones who broke into Vera's office. Now you're asking about Nora Bonesteel. Don't think just because we're mountain folk we're stupid."

Cheryl was having a hard time keeping up with Pascal's deductions; luckily she was used to thinking on her feet. "Sorry, this is Pascal Comeau; we are a group of Hunters with the Order of the Comacine. It is vital that we contact the senior Guardian for this territory. Would that be Nora Bonesteel?"

Kelly almost bit her tongue. She had been so rattled earlier when they called Kayla a Guardian that she let slip the information they were fishing for. None of them noticed Kayla edging out of the office.

Pascal twitched slightly, which Cheryl knew was his normal response to a vision. "They found Kathy Wyler. Someone in a park ranger's uniform is bringing her back." Kelly shot to her feet. "You saw a park ranger?" Her hands were rubbing her belly unconsciously. Pascal looked encouraged; maybe this would get the woman to open up. "Yeah, him and Jay Kesterson ... they're on their way." Kelly looked relieved.  
Cheryl tried again, "We really need to contact Nora Bonesteel. We came to offer our services and protection, we know Sam is missing and others have been killed."

Kelly just sat back down, leaned against the back in her chair and just looked at Cheryl. Her expression was hostile again. "You've already left a bad road behind you here. You don't just show up and snoop about our folks and break into peoples' offices and then expect us to trust you."

Cheryl shook her head, she could just strangle Mike. "Most people don't believe in visions or know about psychics. If we came right out and asked most people they wouldn't believe us. Sam is missing; you don't have many people or resources here. Why do you refuse the help when it is offered? From what I understand, Nora is too old to do much to protect the community, and your daughter is far too young."  
Kelly's brow contracted, like she was trying to remember something. "The senior Guardian can tell you to leave."

Cheryl gritted her teeth; maybe this could get the pregnant woman to give up Nora Bonesteel's location. "You're right; only the senior Guardian can make us leave her territory."

"Okay, she doesn't have a phone. Let me give you directions." Kelly gave them very complex directions which would lead them over half of Wake County. She planned to call Spencer to follow them.

Cheryl and Pascal thanked her profusely and turned to leave when Kayla shouted, "Don't do it!" The little, somber girl looked like she was on the verge of tears. 

Cheryl hesitated, looking to see if Kelly was going to stop her from talking to Kayla. "What are we not supposed to do sweetie?"

"I don't know, but I'm not supposed to have to be a Guardian until I'm older. If you mess up, I'll have to start doing it soon!" The child was breathing hard and bunching the front of her shirt in her fist.

Cheryl wasn't sure what Kayla knew or suspected and tried to reassure her. "We would never hurt your Mamaw sweetie, never, Guardians are too precious. They're protected under the Ancient Laws."

"No, not Mamaw! The other ones!"

Cheryl looked at Pascal but he just shook his head. "There is another Guardian? Who?" 

Kayla whined, "I don't know them." Them! Cheryl was amazed that there was more than one Guardian.

"Do you know what they look like?"

Kayla sniffed. "No."

Kelly intervened, fire in her eyes. "You better go now."

Cheryl and Pascal traded looks, thanked her again and left. With a grim smile, Kelly picked up the phone and called the three wrecker services in Wake County. She knew these Comacines would get stuck in one of the dirt roads she gave them as directions. Hopefully they'd have a long walk back to their hotel.

8

Vera stumbled through the rain, lightning and darkness. The more time that passed, the more likely tonight would not have a happy outcome. Dean led the way, scrying out Sam's location while Joe followed at the rear of the group, basically babysitting her. Vera could feel his irritation and disgust that she was out here with them. She gritted her teeth; she couldn't let his negativity affect her. She had to keep her faith, her will focused. She had to keep all three of them psychically hidden from the demons in the area, something Joe did not understand. Vera could not allow herself to fail. She focused on Dean in front of her and concentrated on keeping her footing.

It was Dean who tripped. The pounding rain had washed away top soil and he slipped when crumbling shale shifted under his feet. The pendulum tumbled from his hands and down a steep hill, almost a cliff and out of sight. Dean's cry of despair was heart rending, but then Griffin dove after it. "Griffin!" Dean yelled, thinking his familiar had died in the steep jump. Vera could feel Dean's pain and despair. She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around. "Stop it! If Griffin were dead you'd know; if Sam were dead you'd know. As long as we're all alive, there's still hope." Vera's voice took on a tone he'd only heard from her a few times. "We wait for Griffin."

Dean blinked, rain pounding his face. Just when he thought he had Vera figured out, the woman surprised him again. The diffident, frightened woman that she was at the beginning of this search was gone and replaced by someone or something else. Dean nodded his head and waited, glancing at Joe LeDonne behind her. His face was contorted into a cynical scowl. Dean grimaced at him.

Then they waited. Second after agonized second passed by with no sign of the cat. Vera stood as still as a rock, reminding him of the time she had talked Sam down out of a rage in the sheriff's station. It looked as if she had merged into the earth again and she stared down the cliff where Griffin had jumped. Sudden she let a breath out and a few moments later Griffin came struggling back into view, scrabbling his way up the hill dragging the pendulum with him. The large cat had the chain so tightly gripped in his jaws that Dean was surprised he hadn't bitten it in half. Griffin dropped the pendulum at Dean's feet. He snatched up the scrying instrument and picked up Griffin for a quick snuggle, glad the rain disguised his tears of relief. He couldn't believe he had once scoffed at the concept of familiars. Dean dropped the cat and looked up at Vera's gentle, sad smile. Joe looked slightly disconcerted. Dean dangled the pendulum again and felt its' reassuring pull. "Let's go!" His throat felt raw from the effort of shouting over the storm.

They continued on, Vera slipping now and then. Joe steadied her, his expression becoming more and more sour. The pendulum led them down a steep hill and to the edge of a flooding stream. It was about twenty feet across, the swollen waters were churning up the mud and carrying large branches. Dean watched a possum carcass get washed by as he paused at the edge of the water.

"Careful Dean!" Joe shouted. "The current can be stronger than it looks!"

Vera took a deep breath and took a fearful look at the water. "You'll need to pick up Griffin." For some reason Vera's voice seemed to carry through the storm better than his and Joe's did.

Griffin bumped his head against Dean's leg. He scooped him up and began making his way cautiously across the stream, watching for branches and feeling for unstable stones beneath his feet. Vera followed with Joe close behind her. Dean made it to the opposite bank. Joe yelled. Dean whirled around; afraid Vera had been carried away. She was standing in the center of the stream, a strange look on her face, Joe trying to push her along without making her fall. Dean and Joe winced as lightning struck nearby, but Vera still stood frozen, not responding to the violent light and ear-splitting thunder.

"Can't you feel it?" Vera cried over the storm. "The sky, the earth itself, it's all rising against the demons. The storm is trying to drive them out, cleanse what they have contaminated."

She seemed to be caught up in whatever she was experiencing. What a time for Vera to give in to a mystical vision! Lightning struck again and for a split second he saw Ravenmocker standing on the opposite bank behind Joe and Vera. Dean dropped Griffin and bolted back into the stream, grabbing Vera and pulling her by the wrist. "This is not the time for a religious experience!"

He and Joe hauled her up on the opposite bank, but she still seemed dazed. This was the down side to the whole earth-blood-bond thing. Griffin attacked her leg, getting a slight response from her. Vera had once told him to follow his familiars' lead, so he slapped her sharply across the face, his anger and fear making him hit her harder than he intended. It seemed to shake her out of her daze, though she was now bleeding from a split lip. Vera shook her head, making the light from her helmet dance across the brush.

"Sorry," she said, looking guilty, "but I think we're getting close."

Dean tried to keep the fury off his face. "Good," he yelled, "just don't have another psychic moment!" Dean stopped before he said something he shouldn't. He glared at her for a second before leaving her to Joe.

Dean knew he shouldn't be taking his anger out on Vera, of all people. He hoped she understood; he had the feeling she did. He made a promise to himself to apologize to her if--no when--they found Sammy. Dean refused to believe otherwise.

Vera slipped and fell halfway down a steep hill, sliding down on her left side. He heard her painful cries as she hit a few medium-sized rocks and struggled through some brush. Dean froze, wondering how badly she was hurt and if she could continue on.

"Stay there!" Joe yelled before plunging down the hill after her. Dean was relieved to see her pick herself up and start limping back up the hill before Joe even got to her. After asking how she was, the taciturn deputy grabbed her arm and hauled her not so gently back up the hill.

Joe was now the focus of Dean's flickering wrath. "Next time, try not to dislocate her shoulder," Dean yelled over the storm, "looks like she can barely walk as it is." As Dean turned to continue Joe and Vera looked at each other for a moment before Joe gently pushed her to urge her on.

They continued on, Dean's heart rising each time the pendulum got heavier and warmer. It led them to an almost vertical cliff, the pendulum growing so warm Dean was surprised it wasn't burning his hand. A light glowed from a cave opening in face of the cliff. Dean stopped abruptly and looked back at Vera and Joe. Vera's eyes were narrowed in anger and disgust while Joe's eyes held a naked fury that Dean had seen before on his father's face.

Before Dean could say a word, Griffin growled softly before diving into the cave.

8

Ben slipped out of Pascal's room, very uneasy. He just had a very long, uncomfortable talk with the young Seer after he had returned from the sheriff's station with Cheryl. He suspected Pascal had another Vision earlier in the evening, and when confronted, Pascal finally told him. Ben decided to do a quick past life regression with him. Pascal had slipped into the trance for the regression easily, and soon he knew why.

Pascal had been a Guardian in the Bonesteel line in a previous lifetime. A little over 200 years ago, Pascal had protected this land and this community, which explained why he was having these visions. It also explained why he was suddenly recognizing Guardians.

So much of Pascal's visions were about blood – and these bands of thunderstorms rolling into the area. Pascal was right; something important was happening tonight, for Wake County, the Winchester brothers, and for the Order. Why was blood so important? Was it because Vera Kesterson was practicing blood magic? Sacrificing people to gain power? They still didn't know the whereabouts of the bones Jay Kesterson was arrested for stealing, was she also practicing necromancy? Maybe Pascal didn't think that was the case, but was he being influenced by her in some way?

He agreed with Pascal about one thing. Tonight was a deadly puzzle and they were racing to find the answer. He just wished that Mistress Tudor would have taken his warnings that Mike was becoming dangerously obsessed with the Winchester brothers more seriously. All she said was that she was concerned and to keep her informed.

8

Mike was glad Ben took Pascal off to talk. Something was wrong with Pascal's shields, they were fluctuating badly after the Visitation he had. Mike was certain the source was magical. That meant any visions Pascal Saw had to be looked at with extreme prejudice. He'd been tainted by Vera Kesterson.

Mike took the new information that Pascal and Cheryl brought back in a grim mood. If there was a large age gap between the current and future Guardian, it was a perfect situation for an opportunistic evil mage and psychic to move in. That would explain why someone with a Ph.D. would be willing to take a job at a small, rural library. The deaths starting soon after Vera Kesterson arrived, Sam's reported withdrawal and illness and the large age gap between Guardians, the brothers arriving here after being involved with her nephew Jay; it was all beginning to make sense. Mike hated to split the team, but they had to put guards on both Nora and little Kayla. The residents of Wake County might not understand, but he wasn't going to let that bitch hurt an old woman and a little girl. For that matter, he wasn't going to let Vera Kesterson hurt her nephew, either. As Ben correctly pointed out, the boy was young enough to still be considered an innocent. Mike wasn't able to save the Winchester brothers all those years ago, but he was going to make up for it by saving them now.

8

Griffin flung himself into the small cave, stifling a yowl in the back of his throat. He knew that his human was upset he came in first, but he had to check the situation. The smell of blood filled his nostrils as the hair on his drenched tail tried to bush out. Griffin wasn't very sensitive as a psychic, but even he could feel Sam's pain and see the demons growing stronger with each drop of fluid they drew from him. He could see these creatures shimmering as they resisted a constant, but lessening pull to take them back to what ever hell they came from.

Griffin knew what needed to be done. The ties that these creatures had with this world had to be severed so they would be sucked back to where they came from. Griffin was a hunter himself, both as a feline predator and as a familiar of a Hunter. Death was an innate part of his existence, but these creatures he watched torturing Dean's brother were feeding not just on his body, which Griffin could understand, but on his mind and soul.

Griffin almost squalled at the sight of Sam. Dean was going to be devastated. Sam was being butchered alive. A powerful hate coursed through his body, something the young cat had never experienced before. He now knew what it meant to be a Hunt leader's familiar, he understood why and what his human hunted. Such creatures were not just a threat to humans, but to the entire world, his kind included. Like his human's priestess, he could feel the earth recoiling from the very presence of these abominations.

Griffin knew that in this fight, his role would be to comfort Sam during the battle. Sam was like prey that had been played with too much before a kill.

8

Vera was relieved when Griffin came running out of the cave towards Dean. She could see his teeth chattering, which was something a cat did when it wanted to kill but for some reason could not. It was an imitation of the killing bite felines used to sever the spinal column of their prey. His eyes were wide and dilated. Griffin was clearly enraged. There was no doubt they were in the right place.

Dean drew his sword with a wordless snarl. For a split second Vera almost laughed, even though she had given him the sword. It was the twenty-first century yet here they were fighting a demon with ancient weapons. The situation almost seemed ridiculous, except for the greenish-flickering light pouring from the cave and a sudden, ear-splitting scream echoing out even over the storm.

Vera took a shuddering breath, looking to Dean. This was the threshold of her Initiation into Guardianship. What was about to happen in this cave would either change her life forever or end it. Vera pulled out all the energy she had placed in her office wards and bindings, and then took all but the most basic protections on the farm. She would need to use the energy and power in these spells for battle.

Vera forgot one, crucial thing. She was unbinding the psychics that had broken into her office.

8

Jay was totally exhausted when Betsy dropped him off at home. The past week had been an emotional rollercoaster and it was catching up to him. He dragged himself into the house and took a shower, glad to wash off all the mud and leaves. He just threw his clothes into the back porch. They'd need hosing down before he could even put them in the washer. Jay jerked when he felt most, but not all of the wards on the farm fade. The most basic protections had been left. The power drawn from the wards was a controlled drain. Jay relaxed a little. It must be Aunt Vera re-channeling the power in the search.

He had spent the morning mucking out the horse stables and the afternoon and early evening searching through the woods for Sam and Kathy. Then he had spent what seemed like ages keeping Kathy and Clayt totally shielded so the demons could not sense them at all. He was able to raise the energy for magic and his psychic ability directly from the earth, but it was still hard work.

Jay slumped on the couch in the living room, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, dozing. Suddenly he felt a light probe and jolted fully awake. Shit! That wasn't Aunt Vera; someone just passed the farm wards and knew he was here. He ran to the window and could see the headlights of cars through the rain. There was a lightning clap nearby and thunder. Jay became psychically invisible and bolted for the back door. He heard someone kick in the front door just as he was slamming out the back. He winced; being psychically invisible didn't do him any good if he sounded like a stampeding herd of horses. He should have known the people who broke into his aunt's office might end up here.

Jay heard people coming around the side of the house, somebody yelling that they had to find him fast. Jay dodged under the back porch. Real bright, he told himself, but he didn't have any better ideas. The porch was a wrap around, so he crawled towards an access door near the front of the house. He could hear them searching for him and saw a beam of light illuminating the area of the porch from around the corner of where he was. Damn, they were checking under here for him, he just hoped they didn't notice how far this crawl space ran.

He froze when he heard voices next to him; he could see feet near him from under the edge of the porch. Jay froze, hugging the earth, glad that it was raining so hard, otherwise they might be able to hear his heart pounding, it was so loud. Jay just then noticed he was bare foot and the gravel and odd pieces of broken glass under the porch was cutting and scraping his arms and legs. Jay worked on staying calm and listening to the people looking for him.

"Any sign of Jay?" a guy called out as he got closer to them. Jay saw a booted foot kick the edge of the porch. "No, damn it," the man with the deeper voice responded. "It's like he vanished off the face of the earth. You wouldn't believe what we found in the house, though. Looks like Vera Kesterson was practicing blood magic." Jay bit back tears. Those crystals Dean had! Someone who didn't know the history behind them could certainly suspect the worst. Most people who practiced blood magic killed victims for their blood. How did they know his and Aunt Vera's names?

The other man started talking again. "We need to find Jay as soon as possible. The longer we chase him the more traumatized he's going to be. I want him sedated before we execute Vera, assuming she's still alive. He doesn't need to See or Feel it if we can avoid it, especially if she has any types of psychic hooks in him. We're transporting him along with Sam and Dean." Jay went cold. Execute? He risked a light probe of the three people not even a yard away from him.

Crap, the woman could do something to time. Aunt Vera had told him that was possible, and she could sometimes affect time, but it was really hard for her. She'd only managed to do that five times in her life. This woman seemed to be able to flux time with little more than a thought. The guy with the deeper voice stunned Jay, he knew that there were real Healers out there; ones that could relieve pain, slow down bleeding, and keep wounds from scarring. This man was like someone out of a fairy tale. He had enough power to bring someone back from the brink of death. He was almost as strong an empath as he was a healer. Jay quickly withdrew. If this guy decided to touch him while digging around his shields, he'd probably get through all of them. The only advantage Jay had right now was they didn't know what he could really do. Jay didn't probe the third. Who were these people with such powerful, freakishly specialized abilities? He remembered Aunt Vera warning him about people like this, but he secretly agreed with the rest of the coven that she was just exaggerating and paranoid. Now he was sorry he hadn't paid more attention.

The healer barked one word, "Quiet!" Jay froze in terror, his hands clutching the earth. The man was psychically sweeping the area looking for him. Jay could barely breathe when the man's probes passed right over him. "Be careful," the healer warned. "There is something going on I can't quite place. Did either of you just Feel a light probe?" The other two both said they didn't. "I think this kid might have some abilities we've never seen before. Warn everyone else. Everything about this mission has been off from the beginning. We haven't lost anybody yet, let's make sure we don't start now."

Jay continued to clutch the earth for a while longer, he could hear them still searching for him. He laid there for what seemed like hours, listening to the rain and thunder; occasionally hearing the distant yells of his pursuers. When he could finally stop shaking, Jay forced himself to move towards the crawlspace door, the idea of getting to one of the cars suddenly occurring to him. He'd never hot wired one before, but he had to try. Yes, he had faced the possibility of a demon earlier tonight, but he'd been with older, more experienced men and his Aunt Vera. Now he was exhausted and alone against an unknown number of strong psychics who wanted to kill the only real family he had. Jay knew he had to get to the KOA to warn her and Dean. He hoped they found Sam by now. Cell reception was bad tonight, he wasn't sure he could contact them, but he had to try.

Jay got to the crawlspace door, and after spending a few moments frozen in fear with his hand on the latch, he dashed out, stumbling a little. What he saw almost made him cry. Two vans were parked so they blocked in all the farm's cars. Sometimes people forgot to lock the back doors, he reached for the rear door handle. Success! It was open. He jumped in shutting the door quickly and turned.

Suddenly Jay was blinded by a bright light and he threw his arm up to shield his face, the light feeling like needles in his eyes. Jay heard the voice of a young man with a Canadian accent, sounding low and deadly. "Freeze, I have a gun pointed at your head." A hand jerked his arm away from his face. There was total silence in the van before Jay heard the same voice say, "We don't want to hurt you Guardian. We came in peace."


	17. Fire Consumes Fire

**Disclaimer:** We do not own the Supernatural or Ballad novel story elements.

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 17: Fire Consumes Fire**:

**Summary:** The moment of truth comes for the Winchesters, The Kestersons, Wake County and the Comacine Order.

Zip and Pascal had been ordered by Mike to stay in the van. Between Pascal having Visitations and Zip being under age and on the mission mainly for moral support for Sam, Mike thought it was best if the two of them stayed out of the action.

They were talking when Zip spotted Jay stumble out from under the house in the passenger's side mirror. "There he is!" Zip shrieked excitedly, ready to bolt out the door to go after him. Pascal grabbed Zip's arm, a sudden minor premonition hitting him. "Wait, he's coming our way, I think he's going to try jumping into the van."

A very dirty, panicked teen leaped into the back seat, slipping and falling heavily into the floor before closing the door. Pascal hit the child safety locks so Jay couldn't get out and Zip quickly blinded him by shining a high-powered flashlight in his face. Pascal quickly damped down a surge of elation. The guy practically threw himself into his hands. He'd had some basic negotiation training, time to put it to use. Maybe he'd get some answers now. But, first he needed to take control of the situation.

"Freeze, I have a gun pointed at your head."

Pascal gritted his teeth, regretting pulling his firearm. Jay Kesterson was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He looked battered and bloody, with bruises all over his body. Was he being physically abused by his aunt? Just what the guy needed, more traumatizing. Pascal reached out and jerked Jay's arm away from his face so he could get a better look at him.

Staring into his painfully blinking face made one of the last few pieces of the puzzle fall into place for Pascal.

Jay Kesterson was an underage and very frightened Guardian. What did that mean about Vera Kesterson?

8

Sam smothered a surge of hope as he saw his brother's bedraggled familiar slink into the cave. He knew he was dying and his only hope was that these abominations would soon be destroyed. Sam wanted to hang on long enough to warn Dean about the other Hunters. Maybe he could do something to stop the blood bath that Ravenmocker had foretold.

Through his pain Sam Saw his tiny familiar spasm in near death throes. It was even more of an agony to realize that a tiny kitten would be the first victim of his selfish stupidity. He had been so willing to die to see Jess again. Now he would be ashamed to face her. He could only hope that Nora, Vera and Jay could somehow comfort Dean's grief.

Sam began to scream and thrash around even more than he already was, hoping to distract the nameless demons torturing him.

Suddenly he saw Ravenmocker standing in a corner of the cave, his usually calm face contorted in a combination of fear, rage and helplessness. Sam knew he could not help Dean in the fight to come.

8

Dean looked at his unlikely allies in this fight; a grieving sheriff's deputy, a middle-aged librarian and a cat. He motioned silently for Joe to join him. Vera understood that she was to enter last, same as the previous time. Dean reached down to grip Griffin's shoulders gently in encouragement and thanks. He knew that his familiar needed no instructions. He was a predator and hunter by nature. Dean wished Griffin could share those instincts with Vera.

Dean and Joe flanked the entrance to the cave. He gritted his teeth in self control to keep from rushing in at the sounds of his brother's screams. Crouching next the cave opening he peered in at the demons torturing Sam and fought down a wave of nausea.

The creatures were huge, looking too large to be human. Their skin was a sickly green and glowed with an unnatural light. Both were bald with no ears and just a slit for a nose. Their fingers ended in almost needle-like talons and their cocks were obscenely engorged.

Sam was partially hidden by the uneven cave floor. Dean almost vomited again at the sight at a shapeless mass at the end of one of Sam's arms that looked like it used to be a hand. One of the demons was crouching over him, looking as if it were carefully slicing a pattern into his chest.

Griffin slipped silently into the cave; Dean didn't try to stop him. He spared a glance for Joe and Vera. Joe's face was mask-like and still. Vera looked like she was about to be sick and hadn't even seen anything yet. Vera had shielded them, making it possible to sneak up on the demons that fact alone was worth bringing her along.

Dean bounded into the cave with Joe on his heels. The element of surprise was with them and he drew first blood stabbing the demon standing nearest the entrance in its side. Dean jumped out of range of the demon's claws as Joe shot it with the shotgun, causing more wounds. Dean approved, Joe was falling back on the weapons he knew.

The demon crouching over Sam loomed up. The cave was so crowded it was difficult to maneuver and Joe suffered a glancing blow. Dean was relieved to see the deputy still on his feet, bleeding from a series of shallow slashes on his upper arm. The rumbling of a thunderclap caused dust and small rocks to fall from the ceiling distracting Joe for a moment; he was almost struck again, but he shot the nearest demon with the second round before throwing the shotgun aside; there was no time to reload. Ducking behind a small boulder Joe drew his sword and doused the blade in holy water.

Dean thrust his sword again at the first demon, this time cutting its upper leg and barely dancing out of the way of the return blow. Where the hell was Vera?

8

Vera stood frozen, watching the fight play out in front of her. The cave was small; she didn't know how Dean and Joe hadn't been slaughtered yet. Vera couldn't seem to think of anything she could do; her brain seemed to be as frozen in fear as her body. The storm shattering the wooded silence behind her seemed to be just as violent as the battle in front of her.

"Damn it Vera," Dean yelled as he barely avoided a blow, "do something!" Dean's voice seemed to reactivate her brain. With another crash of lightning, Vera Saw another man standing at the back of the cave. Long dark hair, high cheekbones; he looked almost like he was a part of the stone behind him.

Her mind suddenly jolted with a revelation. The earth itself wanted rid of these abominations. The blood of her ancestors had intertwined with the spirits of this land. Sympathetic magic was the most ancient and basic of the mystical arts; like calls to like. This was the reason you needed a part of someone, their hair or an object close to them to scry them out.

Like calls to like; blood calls to blood. Vera drew her sword. The sword dedicated and sanctified to the spirits and creatures of the North; the direction that was connected to the mother earth, both land and family.

Vera fell to her knees, thrusting the sword into the few inches of soil on the cave floor until she hit bedrock. Not giving herself time to think, she clasped the sword blade tightly in her already injured left hand, severing tendon and muscle. A maimed and useless hand was worth destroying these abominations.

"Blood calls to blood!" she cried out as her own blood ran freely down the blade in self sacrifice to the soil beneath. At that moment Vera was no longer Vera, she was Ashera, a priestess of her Gods, a powerful psychic and mage. At that moment she truly became a Guardian.

Ashera could feel the energy of the earth and sky surge through her, using her as a willing conduit to strike back at the unclean presence that was tainting them. Lightning struck, but not the ground. The electrical current snaked through the trees and cave entrance and into Ashera, who sanctified the power and merged it with the power vibrating from the earth and racing up the blade.

The power struck the two demons with a blinding, brutal light, causing them to convulse and scream in rage and pain; weakening but not killing them. Joe jumped out from behind the boulder where he had drawn and doused his sword with holy water. He struck at the nearest demon, the one furthest away from Sam, who had been slowed down by the pain and power of Ashera's strike it was an easy target. Instinctively, the newly blooded Hunter aimed for the demon's crotch, severing its' obscenely large cock. With a soundless spasm, it imploded without as much as a flicker.

The second demon, on seeing its brother destroyed, leapt at Sam, its form twisting and becoming smaller and slug like, attaching itself like a leech just above his heart. Griffin, who had been trying to protect and comfort Sam during the fight yowled and struck at it as it attached itself to Sam. His claw swipe caused it to squirm, but otherwise didn't affect it.

Dean and Joe paused to catch their breath as Ashera slowly rose to her feet, clutching her now useless left hand and leaving her sword embedded in the earth. Dean dropped by Sam's side, his love for his brother keeping him from recoiling at the bloody ruin of his face. Most of Sam's body showed signs of repeated torture, his face flayed and his hair matted with blood. He was bleeding from his anus and his genitals. His chest was sliced up and his left hand crushed.

"Kill me," Sam said in a hoarse voice, "if you kill me, you'll force it out. It's getting stronger." His voice ended in a gasp.

Dean gripped Sam's uninjured hand, trying to keep his lips from quivering and his eyes from overflowing. Last thing Sam needed to see was him losing it. He took in the extent of Sam's injuries and the time and difficulty it would take to get him to a hospital. Sam looked like he had internal injuries. Trying to get him to a hospital would probably just cause him pointless pain.

"What?" Dean asked in disbelief. "No! How can you even ask me that?"

Sam swallowed painfully, his lips slick from blood. "Look at me. I'm hurting, deep. Too much."

"Sam, we'll figure out some way to get this thing off you, there must be some exorcism, just hang on a bit longer." He took a deep breath, trying to hold back tears. He couldn't lose it, not now; too many people were depending on him. "You've got to hang on Sam!" Dean ordered fiercely. After everything that had happened, the home they had found, Sam couldn't leave him alone now. Not when they just got a family.

"One thing," Sam rasped out; "other Hunters. Ravenmocker said--me dying tonight--other people could die."

Dean was shocked. "Ravenmocker said you were going to die?"

Sam tried to focus enough through the pain to explain. "No, Ravenmocker said if I die, other hunters will think Vera did it. They may kill Vera and Jay, no Guardians left here."

Dean took a shaky breath. How could things have gone so wrong since this morning? "More reasons to live Sam. You aren't a quitter."

Sam suppressed a sob. "Too far from a hospital."

Dean couldn't keep tears from running down his face and said fiercely, "Don't do this Sam, don't you give up now. We have a home, just like you always wanted. Save your strength, we're going to get you out of here."

Dean was vaguely aware of an argument between Vera and Joe before Joe stormed out of the cave. Vera came to kneel on the other side of Sam, her face set and angry. "Joe is going to get two long branches so we can make a stretcher for Sam out of rope and your ponchos." She scowled down at the writhing green blob on Sam's chest. "We have to get him back to the farm; we've got to finish that thing off."

Dean glared at her in fury over Sam's rasping breath. "We've got to get him medical help."

Vera was unmoved in the face of Sam's pain and Dean's fury and grief. "Do you think a hospital can help him right now? Medical help won't do him any good until we separate the demon from him."

Vera turned her attention to Sam, ignoring Dean for the moment. She began murmuring comfort to Sam as she pulled out the medical supplies they had brought with them to do as much first aid for Sam as they could while Joe dragged in two long, thick tree branches.

Even as they made a stretcher Dean began to despair. They were so far away from the truck and the KOA, they didn't mark their trail, streams were flooded; how were they ever going to get him help in time? Vera continued bandaging Sam up as best she could, her face grim, keeping up a continuous chant under her breath that seemed to comfort Sam.

Suddenly the entire world seemed to move two inches to the left and Dean felt his gut twist painfully for a second. Sam moaned and Vera turned away from him quickly and threw up bile. Joe looked shaken and white, which considering the day's events was stunning.

Dean looked around; they were no longer in the same cave. After a moment Joe finally found his voice, looking like he was about to be sick himself. "We're in the first cave, where we found Kathy Wyler." Dean jumped up and ran the few steps to the cave entrance to look over Joe's shoulder.

He never thought that a flooded, wet, muddy hillside would be so beautiful. He could even see the bright orange plastic tags that would lead them back to the KOA. It was going to be tough getting Sammy past the somewhat narrow crack that was the cave's entrance, but this cut off hours of wandering in the woods trying to find their back trail.

Dean turned around and snatched Vera up from the ground, giving her a rib crushing hug. "Dean!" she squeaked in protest.

"How'd you do it?" he asked, a laugh of relief bubbling from him.

Vera blinked at him, looking shaken. "Me? I didn't do it. It must be a miracle or intervention of some type." By this time Dean wasn't listening to her anymore, he and Joe were working on getting Sam out of the cave.

The footing was still bad, but guided by the trail markers Clayt had insisted they leave behind them they headed back to the campground. Dean decided florescent orange was his new favorite color. Each time he saw one of those bright plastic ribbons through the rain and gloom of the night and storm it made his heart leap. It took them longer than Dean liked but they reached the campground very quickly.

The rain had almost stopped and Joe and Dean quickly loaded Sam into the back of Vera's truck. Dean jumped into the back closing the tailgate and but leaving the shell door open. Griffin stayed plastered to his side, looking pitiful.

They stopped briefly at the campground office to let Mrs. Rice know they had found Sam and to get Joe's car. Dean could see Joe talking on his car radio. Then he got out of his car to speak to Dean while Vera was in the office. "I have to go help Spencer; there are accidents all over town because of the storms. He needs help." Joe looked both enraged and torn. "Finish it," he said curtly.

Dean could tell he wanted to stay, but knew that people needed mundane help tonight as well. Vera reassured Mrs. Rice before almost running out of the office and jumping into the truck. Her useless left hand clutched to her chest.

Dean slid open the small window into the cab. "Vera, let's go!"

She looked at him in the rear view mirror, and for a moment Dean could swear that she was more afraid now then she was at the beginning of the search. Dean quickly forgot it as soon as he turned back to Sam. After all, they'd all survived the search, found both Kathy Wyler and Sam and had killed one of the demons. They knew how to kill the last one. Other than Sammy's injuries, what else was there to worry about?

8

Ravenmocker watched in anxiety as his Hunter/Guardian group drove off to their separate destinations. He knew he had helped too much. He shouldn't have teleported them from one cave to another. He had crossed the boundaries, which meant the unbalanced and unclean forces could push back. As unfair as it seemed, there was a Balance. 'Light' and 'Dark' were complementary forces, all actions had an equal and opposite reaction. Both were needed for Existence to continue. Now the forces of 'Dark' could do something as powerful as he had done for their agents. All he could do now was to watch and ensure they didn't exceed the license he had just given them.

8

"We don't want to hurt you Guardian. We came in peace."

Jay was shaking in the back seat; he didn't think he'd ever been more terrified in his life. "W-what? Why are you talking like Lord of the Rings or Star Trek?" Despite the gun Jay was scared enough to be fumbling for the door handle in the dark, not realizing he couldn't get out because of the child locks.

The man with the Canadian accent started talking again. "Wait! We just want to talk!"

Jay heard another voice from the passenger's seat. "Look we are putting our guns down here on the floor" Jay blinked, didn't the idiots realize he couldn't see a damned thing with the flashlight in his face? He did hear movement but didn't trust them, there was no way for him to know if they'd put down their weapons or not.

"Shit!" Jay gasped out, realizing not only did his captors have guns but also he was outnumbered. "Your-your friends want to kill my aunt. They are out there right now looking for me, what the hell do you want to talk about?"

He heard someone take a deep breath. "Your aunt is a danger to the community; we are here to rescue you from her."

Jay was confused. "What? Rescue me? I don't need rescuing from her. Besides, what community?"

"I'm Pascal," the accented voice said rather regretfully, as if he knew he should have told him their names sooner, "and this is Zip. We are the Comacine Order; I'm talking about the Guardian and Hunter community. Zip, turn off the light."

Suddenly Jay was plunged into a darkness so profound he wondered if he could ever see again. He decided to risk a quick probe to both of them now that he was calming down some. Pascal was a Seer and his shields were all but blown. The Zip guy was spiking energy all over the place. Jay shook his head in annoyance at both of them. "Yeah, I know about Hunters and Guardians. Aunt Vera isn't a danger to them! Sam's about to go rogue, and she's been keeping him grounded."

Now it was Zip's turn to sound regretful and amazingly condescending at the same time. "But now Sam Winchester is missing, what does your aunt know about that?"

Jay ignored the question, becoming more agitated over Zip spiking power and Pascal projecting his rather unsettled emotions. "Dude, what is wrong with both of your shields? You're both leaking all over the place!" Jay was picking up on both of their agitation, which was just making his fears worse. "Sam? She's out looking for him!"

Jay could make out a little movement in the front seat and Zip's voice sounded confused when he answered him. "What do you mean both our shields? I'm not a psychic." Jay grunted in annoyance and threw external shields over both of them out of self-defense, gasping both in relief and exhaustion once he finished.

There was total silence in the van for several seconds. Pascal spoke first. "Thank you!" he blurted out, sounding grateful, but then he was silent again, as if he shouldn't have said it.

Zip sounded confused, "How come I feel better?"

Jay groaned, slumping in the seat. He wasn't quite as afraid anymore; these guys were idiots. "You've been channeling energy, you were spiking all over the place." Jay could see their outlines turn towards each other. Damn it, he wished he could see! Zip was still fluxing energy wildly within the shield he put up, battering it from the inside as he tried to hold it in place. Jay shuddered. "Dude, tamp it down! I can't ground you right now! I'm too tired with all the shielding."

Zip asked nervously, "How is this happening?"

Jay snorted; they were really stupid if they didn't understand something as basic as energy work. "You're channeling the power of the storm. Damn you're powerful. You're channeling as much energy as some full covens I've seen." Jay began panting a little, feeling strained. Something suddenly occurred to Jay. "Why aren't you calling your buddies on me?" he asked suspiciously.

The two of them ignored him. "Zip, I think you're a booster!" Pascal's voice held suppressed excitement.

Jay could see Zip's outline stiffen. "Me?" he yelped, his voice high pitched enough to make Jay wince. Shit, hadn't this dude hit puberty yet? "But that's really rare! How can I be…?" Zip's voice trailed off.

Jay decided to break up the little love fest in the front seat. "Why aren't you telling them where I am?"

Much to Jay's annoyance, they ignored his question again. Pascal started interrogating. "Where did you learn to shield like that? How are you doing it? How can you shield more than one other person?"

Jay was confused again; frightened by the intensity of the questions as he felt his heart pounding in his chest. "My aunt, who else? Can't you do it, too?" Jay could have kicked himself, of course they couldn't do it, otherwise he wouldn't have to! Some of Jay's night vision was coming back and he could see Pascal shaking his head, "Not like you are." Jay was getting even more upset; they weren't answering any of his questions. "You still haven't told me why you're not telling them where I am."

Pascal sighed, "I think the situation is volatile enough without the rest of the team here trying to talk to you at once don't you think?"

The team. The realization that these Comacines were here to take Sam and Dean away and kill Aunt Vera came crashing back down on him. He swallowed back tears. "Oh, Gods, I don't understand you people. Why are you doing this? Why can't you just leave us alone?"

Zip cleared his throat, uncomfortable with Jay's show of emotion. "We first got involved when Dean got arrested. We've been trying to contact the Winchesters for years. So we came here and found out there were murders going on. We came to help protect you and the Winchesters. That's our job."

Jay stifled a sob. "We don't need your protection! I am so outta here." Jay had to leave; he had to warn his aunt, Sam and Dean. This couldn't happen; he couldn't let it happen. He began scrabbling at the door, trying to find the handle and the door locks. When he couldn't, Jay started throwing himself against the door, not realizing his fight or flight instinct had kicked in, completely forgetting the two other men were armed.

Pascal recognized what was happening with the younger man, and reached over the seat to grab one of his arms. The kid looked perfectly willing to try to break out a window to get away. He knew that abused people would go to great lengths to protect their abusers. "We are sworn to protect all Guardians. You have to stay here." He got Jay to calm down a little, Pascal tried to keep his grip on Jay's wrist firm but not tight enough to hurt.

"Then why are you trying to kill Aunt Vera?" Jay tried jerking out of Pascal's grip, his voice breaking and Pascal knew they were about to lose him to panic again. Pascal kept a tight hold on his arm, but he could feel his own face go pale. Sweet Mary, Mother of God; the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. "Your aunt is a Guardian? I thought it was Dean. Oh God, Zip call Mike and tell him to stand down."

The meanings of Pascal's visions suddenly became painfully clear. Why he was getting the Visitations, why he saw Jay, Sam and Dean attacking the Comacine Order, why seeing Jay thrusting his hand into bloody soil next to his aunt filled him with such dread. He had been a Guardian here two hundred years ago, now Ravenmocker was desperately trying to get him to stop his Order from killing another Guardian by mistake.

Jay totally gave in to panic, this time trying to jump into the front seat to stop Zip from calling. He obviously had misunderstood what Pascal had said in his confusion and was trying to keep Zip from contacting anyone else on the team. Pascal started shouting at him, trying to make him understand "They have orders to shoot her on sight, we got to warn them!"

Jay screamed; an anguished cry. Pascal winced out of sympathy. "Shoot her on sight; no trial, no chance to defend herself?"

Jay's voice was raw and Pascal could see Zip shaking over the implications, finally understanding what was at stake tonight. "Listen Jay," Pascal began urgently. He had to make him understand; to cooperate with him to stop this chain of events. "Those are the orders and the team is trained to follow orders. Mike is the only one now who can call this off. We got to call him or they'll shoot her on sight."

Jay looked at him glassy eyed and Pascal shook his arm, trying to get a response out of him. Suddenly Jay began clawing at the door again. Pascal cursed; he'd lost him. He probably shouldn't have said the word "shoot". He swore to himself he was asking for more negotiation training after this mission. Giving up on talking, Pascal threw himself into the back seat to subdue Jay while Zip tried calling Mike. Within a few seconds he had Jay face down in the floorboards, his arm twisted tightly and his knee holding him down. It was almost too easy; Pascal decided he must be exhausted, he expected more of a fight from him.

Pascal could hear Jay sobbing and feel him shake under him. He thought it would be kinder to sedate him rather than leave him awake for all of this, but Mike might want to talk to him. He could hear Zip talking to Mike in the front seat when he heard a car and saw headlights. A truck roared past them, crashing through one of the fences. Jay resumed struggling beneath him. Pascal was worried that Jay was perfectly willing to break one of his arms to get away from him. He quickly cuffed the panicked teen. Jay might be a young Guardian and a powerful psychic, but he obviously needed a lot of training. He was glad the young Guardian couldn't defend himself; it made things much easier for him.

8

Vera fought down a moment of panic when she saw two vans parked in the driveway. The other Hunters? All the lights were on in the house. Her thoughts immediately went to Jay. A shudder ran through her. A quick psychic search told her Jay was still alive. She had to cleanse Sam, and then they would try dealing with them. They were seriously outnumbered. She couldn't use the ritual room like she planned; she'd have to use the outdoor ritual area in the back field.

Wishing she had some way to warn Dean, Vera gritted her teeth and starting driving though fences, glad the truck had four wheel drive. Vera was relieved the horses had enough sense to get out of the way but winced when she hit one of the goats. In the distance she saw figures running toward them; she prayed that the truck didn't get stuck.

She stopped just outside the Circle, the truck sliding in the mud. Vera almost slipped and fell in the slick earth as she jumped out. She heard Dean throw open the tailgate and shell doors.

"Vera, what the fuck?" she heard Dean roar over the rain.

"The other Hunters," she yelled back, "they're here! Sam said they want to kill me and we don't have time to explain. This is the outdoor Circle, it might be better to try this out here. We have to get Sam within the boundaries."

Dean was startled by the fact that these other Hunters were already here and wondered how they had found them so fast. His anger at Vera was replaced by relief and pride in the fact that she's quickly came up with an alternate plan rather then panicking and freezing up the way she had when they found Sam.

Through the rain Dean could see the ritual area, Griffin's white fur showing up against the darkness helping lead the way over the uneven ground as he stumbled towards it. It had one large altar and three large stones set in a circle. Vera helped him to maneuver Sam and laid him down in front of the altar. Dean shuddered; to a stranger this was going to look really bad. The rain was getting worse and Dean could see and hear more lightning and thunder approaching them; another band of storms was coming in.

"Now what?" Dean yelled.

Vera blinked at him through the rain washing over her face. "Stay with Sam."

Dean cradled Sam's head in his lap, Griffin crouching next to both of them, his attention split between his human and his human's littermate. Once again, Vera's voice seemed to carry unnaturally well through the sounds of the storm. Dean shook his head; if they all came out of this alive he was having a very long talk with her.

Vera stood before the altar and took a deep breath. She usually gave herself a few moments to mentally prepare herself and plan the ritual but she knew she had no time. She didn't even know if she really had time to finish the ritual before the other Hunters got to them but she had to try. Ashera began, realizing she would have to create this ritual on the spot.

She lifted her arms to the she and threw back her head.

"Spirits of the North;  
Of Earth and Mother,  
Resting place of my Ancestors and the Beloved Dead  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

She moved a quarter of the way around the Circle to one of the large stones.

"Spirits of the East;  
Of Air and Dawn,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

The wind howled, driving rain painfully into Dean's face before he turned away. Ashera moved on the stone directly across the Circle from the altar as if she didn't even feel the near bruising rain.

"Spirits of the South;  
Of Fire and Passion,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

Lightning stuck nearby, almost knocking Ashera off her feet. She could see the people were getting closer and quickly ran to the West, skidding to a halt in front of the last stone.

"Spirits of the West;  
Of Water and Healing,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

For a moment the rain intensified, momentarily blinding everyone in the field, slowing down the group running towards them. She strode to the center of the Circle and held her hands palm down, looking to the earth.

"Spirits of Below;  
The dark and chthonic forces,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

Ashera raised her hands and looked to the roiling sky, cloud to cloud lightning flickering above them.

"Spirits of Above;  
The endless sky and mysteries of space,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

She cupped her hands in front of her.

"Spirits of Center;  
The navel of the universe,  
I ask you for your Presence here tonight  
To guard this Circle and aid my rite  
Hail and welcome!"

As Ashera cried out the phrase, lightning arced from the sky towards them. Dean flinched back, at first thinking she had been hit, but when his vision cleared he saw her standing in the center of the Circle, panting. There was a faint, shimmering blue-green dome enclosing the ritual area.

As Vera stumbled back to them Dean could see several figures slide to a halt at the Circle's boundaries, a few of them slipping and falling into the mud. Dean called out a warning when he saw a woman draw a gun and began firing at Vera. She froze again. Dean screamed at her in a combination of fury and fear for not throwing herself flat. Dean reared up, returning fire.

"Wait!" Vera screamed. "Look!"

Dean suddenly realized that the shimmering globe was absorbing the bullets that were being fired. "Why didn't you tell me that would happen?" Dean yelled.

Vera looked at him blankly for a moment. "I didn't know it would."

Dean stared at her for a moment. "What?"

She shook her head. "This isn't how Circles usually go. No shimmering bullet proof domes. Must be part of that whole 'stronger here' thing Nora Bonesteel told us about." They could see and hear the people outside the Circle beating on the dome and yelling.

"Get to work" Dean yelled above the thunder and rain.

Vera shuddered and turned her attention to Sam's broken body before her. She took a few deep breaths, trying to decide what to do.

Dean grabbed her shoulder, "Do something!"

Vera looked onto Dean's face. "Give me a time to figure out what to do."

Dean almost hit her for the second time that night. "You don't know what to do?" He sounded furious.

"Damn it Dean," Vera roared back. "I've never done this before. I'm trying to decide how!"

Dean swallowed what he wanted to say and stepped away and back to Sam, trying to give her space and time to think. Yelling at her wasn't going to help. After a few moments he was relieved to see her frantic expression clear and give way to some type of realization.

"Sanctify him; force it out. Initiation, blessing, passing power…a Hunter…" Her voice was barely more than a whisper but Dean could hear it even over the growing violence of the storm. Wind and rain were still lashing them and lightning danced around the Circle like a fury looking for an outlet.

Vera fumbled to remove the multicolored cord from her waist; the movements breaking open the wounds on her left hand again, a steady trickle of blood. When she pulled it free, she fell to her knees next to Sam. Vera wrapped the cord around one of Sam's ankles. "Feet neither bound nor free, choosing the path of a Protector." She leaned over Sam, touching his forehead with her bloody left hand. "Ateh", she whispered, then touched his chest gently "Malkuth".

Dean shuddered when he saw that she was leaving bloody hand prints behind on Sam that the rain was washing away. The green blob began to writhe. She reached out to his right shoulder "ve-Geburah" and then his left "ve-Gedulah." She clasped her hands above Sam's heart. "Le Olam Adoni."

Vera's hands dropped to Sam's feet. "Blessed be your feet, that has chosen to walk the path of a Hunter." She rested her hands lightly on his knees. "Blessed be your legs, which run to the defense of the helpless." Vera's hands hovered above Sam's ruined penis, a few drops of her blood dripping onto him. "Blessed be your phallus, without which the next generation would not be." Her face contorted as she laid her hands gently on his almost shredded chest next to the leech-demon, their blood mingling over his heart. "Blessed be your chest, formed in strength and beauty." Vera laid her fingertip on Sam's mouth. "Blessed be your lips, which give comfort to the frightened."

Vera rested her hands on Sam's forehead. "You have past the Ordeal and shall be purified!" she cried out and the demon writhed on Sam's chest in response.

Dean unsheathed his sword in the hope of having something to fight. Vera dipped her left hand into the mud, her blood still trickling from the cuts on her palm to her fingertips. She traced a pentacle on Sam's forehead; her blood mixed with the water of the storm and soil of the earth. For just a moment Dean could swear the shape she traced glowed blue-white.

"I consecrate you as Hunter and Protector." At these words the demon erupted from Sam's chest, towering over them. Dean was vaguely aware of more shouts and gunfire from outside of the Circle. He was about to strike the abomination that had tortured his brother when Dean saw that the demon was screaming in pain. Dean suddenly realized that the rain falling through the protective globe around the Circle was becoming holy water, burning it like acid. Something was pushing it backwards away from them. Dean instinctively glanced at Vera, her face set and strained as she staggered to her feet.

"Spirits of evil, unclean presence; begone! Leave this place; leave this Circle; and leave the realm of earth!

Go, or be cast into the howling darkness  
Go, or be scattered by the wind  
Go, or be drowned in the downpour  
Go, or be struck by the sacred lightning.  
By the powers of life, death and rebirth  
I banish you. I banish you. I banish you."

Vera had been advancing on the demon the entire time, somehow backing it away from Sam, Dean and the main altar. Dean heard a louder commotion coming from outside of the Circle and heard Jay's voice. Vera's concentration broke for a moment when she heard her nephew. The demon took that opportunity to lash at her, throwing her through the air and into the altar and sending Dean reeling as it struck him a glancing blow. Dean could hear Vera's voice screaming something from the ground near the base of the altar and two bolts of lightning struck the creature as it arched his back and screamed as it flickered out of existence.

8

Mike softly punched the door frame of a fully equipped ritual room while he leaned against the wall next to it. There was evidence on the main altar of the room of blood magic; three blood smeared quartz crystals. The library was crammed full of books on all forms of magic from all over the world, good, evil, indifferent. The Winchester brothers and Jay Kesterson were all missing, but Ben had Felt a young male presence here. Now that young male, who they presumed to be Jay from the information they could glean from there police scanners had disappeared. The team had searched the farm for over an hour and not found him. It was as if the earth had opened and swallowed him whole.

Mike had a sick feeling deep in his gut as he bit his upper lip. He normally didn't go into the field; he ran the Order's medical division. This was supposed to be an easy mission; find Dean Winchester, find out if Sam was still alive, establish contact and offer them any aid or assistance they might need. From the moment the team officially formed in the airport, things had spiraled out of control. The back up they had called for had been delayed due to this damned storm. Mike knew he was out of his depth out here and this simple mission had turned into a disaster. The team was supposed to be in control of the situation, instead they had only been able to react to events so far, not direct them.

Mike's cell started to vibrate and he looked at the caller display, hoping for some good news. He frowned when he saw it was Zip calling, the boy was supposed to be staying in one of the vans with Pascal. "Yes Zip?" Mike answered crisply, giving no evidence of his inner turmoil.

Zip sounded almost impossibly excited. "We have Jay, sir! He jumped into the van to hide and I blinded him with a flashlight. We subdued him and he's cuffed in the back seat."

Mike shook his head. "Let me talk to Pascal," he demanded. Then he remembered he was supposed to be leading a team and threw in a belated "uh, and good job!" Mike could hear Zip talking to Pascal and what sounded like sobbing in the background. Mike cursed mentally. Why hadn't they sedated him yet?

Zip came back on the phone quickly. "Mike, Pascal's restraining Jay, and says he can't talk to you right now. Jay Kesterson is really freaked out. Something else has come up, I just found out I'm an energy booster and Jay is shielding me, so Pascal can't sedate him."

Mike shook his head. Once again, events were getting away from him. "You're what? How do you know that you're a booster? What the hell is happening out there?"

Zip jumped at bit at Mike's yelling. "Jay is a power booster so he recognized that I am too." Zip added excitedly, "I was glowing a minute ago!" Mike could almost hear him bounce.

That could explain some of the weird events of the day if Jay had an ability as rare as boosting and why Vera Kesterson would want to manipulate events to keep him under her thumb. Boosters could amplify the psychic abilities and magical workings of other people. There were only three known boosters alive right now; one with a large Hunter group in New York, one with the Knights and another with the Fellowship of Apollo, a minor Order. If both Jay and Zip were boosters then that would raise the total worldwide to five. It would be a major triumph for the Comacine Order to have Zip as a booster, but they could unravel that later. "Things have been off since we got here." Mike said, trying to keep up with all the implications. "Try to get Jay to tell us where his aunt might be."

About that time he heard Atin yelling and Zip squeaked. "There they are!" Mike heard a crashing sound from outside and the thrum of a high powered engine.

"Zip! Are you all right?" He was terrified for a moment that the van Zip and Pascal were in had been rammed.

"Yes sir! It was them! They drove through the fence."

Mike could hear Atin calling for him. Mike sprinted out the back door after Atin and the rest of the team. He could see the truck careening to a stop in the field beyond one of the barns. The ground was slick with mud; he could see people getting out of the truck. He saw another car heading across the fields, following the truck. Mike saw it was one of the vans. It could only be Pascal and Zip with Jay; those two were supposed to stay out of it.

Suddenly a glowing transparent, blue-green dome appeared, lighting up three people within. The wind was raging again, thunder and lightning was striking all around them. The storm was obviously magical in origin and very dangerous. There was an altar within the Circle; he could see two figures on the ground before it and a woman standing in the center. As he caught up with the rest of the team he saw Cheryl open fire, but the woman just stared at her arrogantly. That must be Vera Kesterson. Mike felt panic rising in his throat; she was about to sacrifice both of them. He could hear one of the men screaming.

Meanwhile the van had slid to a halt and three figures came tumbling out. Mike could hear Zip's high pitched screech above the rain and wind. "No! Stop!" One of the figures tried to break away but Zip expertly tackled him into the mud while Pascal came sprinting up to him. That must be Jay Kesterson and it looked like Zip was about to drown him in the mud in his trademark exuberance. "Zip!" Mike bellowed at him, "Let him up before he drowns!"

Suddenly he heard a young male voice crying out "Oh Gods, no, why is she attempting a Major Working?" The voice caused Mike's neck to prickle; it carried true and clearly through the storm.

Pascal skidded to a stop, almost falling and Mike had to grab him to keep him upright. "Mike, don't hurt Vera, Jay will put a blood curse on all of us!"

Mike had never seen Pascal this upset. "A what? A curse?"

Pascal was desperate, "Don't hurt Vera, she's a Guardian."

Mike grabbed him and shook him. "A Guardian? Pascal, are you sure?" Mike noticed that Pascal had what looked like the beginnings of a spectacular black eye.

"I'm sure," the young Seer gasped out.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a mud plastered Jay running towards the Circle again; somehow he had gotten out of the cuffs and shaken Zip loose. Things were spinning out of control again. Mike yelled as loud as he could over the storm. "Someone stop him!" He was relieved to see Atin tackle the kid into the mud again. At least Atin had enough experience not to accidentally drown him.

Mike carefully made his way through the mud to Atin, who had pinned both of Jay's arms behind his back and was trying to get him to calm down. Atin was an Empath, so he could manipulate the boy's emotional state, but he seemed to be having no effect on Jay. Mike grabbed Jay's face between his hands, seeing how pale and bruised he was. "Jay," Mike asked desperately, "can you get us past that shield?"

Far off lightning was reflected in Jay's eyes for a moment and he looked confused. "Why?" That one word rasped out with anguish. "I won't help you kill her!"

Mike threw a wild look into the Circle; he could see Vera kneeling over Sam's body. He whipped his head around and stared into Jay's face. "She's trying to do some combination of magic, psionics and mysticism. If her will breaks, or her concentration is broken or if she doubts her faith it will all blow up!" Mike did a quick probe of Jay; he was only a very minor psychic and he was too young to know much about magic. He felt sick; there was no way he could get them through. Pascal ran up and took over restraining Jay from Atin.

Suddenly there was a small psychic boom from within the Circle and Mike turned and almost choked. The most evil inter-dimensional he had ever seen was suddenly in the Circle, and he watched Vera Kesterson slowly drive it away from the Winchester brothers. Dean was standing now over what Mike thought must be Sam's body. The inter-dimensional was writhing and screaming in a voice worse than anything Mike had ever heard. Mike felt his heart in his throat; she just might be a Guardian. They had to check. "Stand down on the execution order," he screamed so loud he thought he tore his vocal cords to ribbons.

Suddenly Vera's voice rang through the storm the same way Jay's did, but hers rang like a bell.

"By the powers of life, death and rebirth  
I banish you. I banish you. I banish you."

Then almost simultaneously, two bolts of lightning snaked through the air. One hit Vera and was channeled through her and struck the demon and it lashed out and threw Vera Kesterson against the stone altar with an audible crack. The second bolt looked like it was about to hit Jay, but then at the last moment snaked through Zip, who screamed and threw both hands out towards the demon. With the second strike the inter-dimensional folded up and disappeared. Mike saw LaShonda run to Zip, who was still standing but was pale and shaking. Leaving Zip to her he turned his attention back to Sam, Dean and Vera.

The Circle was still up and Vera was not moving. Dean had been thrown as well and he crawled up beside her. She obviously had spinal cord injuries. "Don't touch her!" Mike called out, "don't move her!" He saw Dean touch her face, apparently urging her to take down the Circle. Dean looked up and squinted through the darkness, the rain was letting up and the storm was rolling out just as quickly as it came in. Mike's attention was centered on the knot of people in front of the altar, but he could hear Jay screaming about his aunt. Suddenly Dean got to his knees, the shield came down, and Dean leveled a gun at Atin, ready to fire.

8

Dean gritted his teeth and rolled over holding his side, Griffin frantically pawing and nudging him. It felt like he'd cracked some more ribs and his left ankle hurt. Sammy was breathing hard and whimpering. Despite his horrific wounds, he looked better now than he did when they found him. Dean realized that although he was still hurt and bleeding, Vera had cleaned the touch of the demons from his soul. Dean crawled over to Vera where she laid with her legs intertwined with Sam's. All Dean could think was that he was relieved that the two of them were together so he could stay with both of them to see this through, whatever the outcome.

Dean checked Sam's pulse, which was fast but steady. He was whimpering and tossing his head slightly. He laid his hand gently on Vera's neck, wondering if her premonition of her own death had been played out. He was relieved when she laughed weakly and said, "I'm still with you for now."

Dean grunted, the day catching up with him. "Yeah, you better stay with me, remember no one's going to die tonight."

Vera just looked up at him, not moving her head. "Dean, I can't feel my legs, it hurts to breathe." Her voice was both frightened and brave. "You're okay though, right?" she asked desperately, her face drawn with more than pain. Dean didn't want to think of what her unnatural body position and words implied.

"I'm fine," he answered tersely, cutting off any 'last words' she might have. He refused to believe she would die tonight and he didn't want to hear it. He checked his Glock, the only gun he had brought with him into the protective Circle. "Damn, almost out of ammo."

Vera took a deep breath and her eyes roamed until she saw the figures outside of the Circle. "Who are they? I can still feel them," she said surprised.

Dean guessed it was because her abilities were still working. "No idea," Dean answered her as gently as he could. "Maybe the ones who were in your office earlier? I haven't seen Jay anywhere..." He trailed off thinking he shouldn't be saying this to her.

Vera moaned "No."

Dean looked around at the people yelling and pounding on the barrier, trying to see the young Guardian. He turned back to her urgently. "You still feel Jay right? He's alive?"

Vera closed her eyes. "He's very tired..."

Dean snorted, wiping water from his face and eyes. Damn it, he couldn't break down; he was not crying. "Teenagers, he's probably sleeping through all the excitement." He looked back up at the small crowd when he heard someone yelling his name. Something about getting away from Vera, not touching or moving her.

Vera whimpered, drawing his attention again. "Dean, I can't take the Circle down, not while they might kill you or Sam."

Dean grunted in anger, looking at Sam's near butchered form. "I got to get you and Sammy to the hospital. I got five bullets left, five of them will die."

Vera's breath was becoming more labored, and he could see that it was hurting her to speak. "Maybe...find out what they want?" She seemed desperate to be sure he and Sam would survive.

Dean snapped at her, losing his patience. "I got the message earlier, give me a count of three and I'll start answering them."

Vera moaned again. "Something's wrong." She tossed her head slightly, hissing in pain.

Dean looked at her incredulously and got sarcastic, "You think? I'm outnumbered six to one."

"No," she whispered. "It's more than that...they've stopped shooting...this isn't supposed to be this way..."

Dean looked at Sam again. Damn it all, he needed to get to a hospital now. Dean knew he'd have to leave her and send someone back; Vera couldn't move her legs, she likely had spinal injuries. He could understand her not wanting to be left alone, but right now Sam had a much better chance of survival than she did.

Dean decided to try to reason with her. "Saving their ammo I suppose. What do you want me to do Vera, wave a white flag? I guess now is a bad time to tell you I went commando."

Her eyes were becoming more unfocused and she looked paler in the light of the truck and the high powered flashlights being shined on them by the other Hunters. "I don't know..." she mumbled, sounding confused.

Dean laid a hand on her cheek. "On one drop the shield okay?" He flipped the safety off his gun. "Three, two..."

"No!" Vera almost yelled, breaking off with a whimper. "It's not that easy, I have to let the spirits go, thank them, finish the ritual."

Dean was breathing hard himself, from pain, rage and adrenaline. "Just do it and give me a warning!"

Vera began mumbling, and Dean could see the energy of the Circle beginning to flux and then stop. "Dean, are you sure?" Vera asked once more, sounding desperate. "You and Sam can't die. There's too many of them."

Dean was getting angry with her. "Vera, we can't stay in here forever, you and Sammy don't have that long."

Vera sobbed; both from her own pain and the tone of Dean's voice. "What are they doing now? It's almost done."

Dean aimed at a tall, Polynesian man. "I've got a target; do it."

"Ready? Are you sure?" Her voice sounded defeated, broken, as if she was sure they we're all going to die.

His voice was tight as he answered her. "Do it, NOW!"

Dean could see the shield pop like a soap bubble. He began to squeeze the trigger, suddenly the people running towards them seemed to blur with speed. He could hear a woman screaming "Atin get down!" The gun was snatched out of his hand before he had a chance to fire and he found a slender, dark-haired woman standing over him.

People began to rush towards them in normal time as the rain began to let up. A tall dark-skinned man with a black buzz cut got to Sam first; his teeth gritted, as he looked him over for injuries. A black woman with her hair braided in cornrows was touching Sam's neck. "No head or spinal injuries" she called out. "Crushed left hand, torn anus, pierced testicles, face and chest flayed."

At that point a petite Asian woman took her place, her hand also on Sam's neck. "No problem keeping him stable," she said to the man with the buzz cut. He grunted in satisfaction.

The black woman crossed to an amazed Dean and she gently touched his neck. "Mild concussion, almost healed, two cracked ribs on the right, left ankle sprained." Griffin hissed at her but she ignored him.

The tall Polynesian man he almost shot crouched next to him. "Hey Dean, I'm Atin and we're not here to hurt you. The guy working on Sam is Mike, the woman with him is Lin Yao and this is LaShonda." Dean gaped at him; apparently Atin wasn't holding any grudges over Dean trying to shoot him.

Dean thought he had a good idea what psychics could do, but these people had freaky abilities. The dark-haired woman standing over him looked at Vera and grimaced as the others loaded Sam onto a gurney. Suddenly it looked like Vera had stopped breathing.

Before Dean could say anything Atin began speaking again. "Dean, it's over. Sam is going to be fine. We have a healer here."

Dean was wild eyed, looking fearful as they left with Sam. "You freaks," he burst out, "you tried to kill Vera. What are you doing to Sam?"

Atin's eyes narrowed to slits for a moment. "We don't have time to go into that now. We need to get you and Sam into the house." LaShonda finally came over and put a hand on Vera's neck.

Dean looked at her in fury and spat out a response to Atin. "We're not going anywhere except a hospital."

Atin sighed, and began again, as if he was explaining something to a very young child. "We have a medical team here; you and Sam don't need a hospital. By the time we get you to the house the worst of Sam's injuries will be healed." Atin smiled. "And yes, Sam will be able to have children," he said in a tone that said he thought that would make everything right.

"Whoa, major league freakage here, what are you? Aliens?" Dean asked, and the dark-haired woman chuckled, "And where is Jay?"

"That's Cheryl by the way, and no, we are not aliens, just a secret society made up of a lot of very powerful psychics. We can explain it later. Jay's in the house; we've got to get you inside."

Dean looked over to Vera and could see LaShonda kneeling in the mud next to Vera, shaking her head at Cheryl, saying something about probably not enough for her and Sam. Vera still didn't look like she was breathing. "I'll continue," Cheryl said softly "for Jay's sake."

Atin and LaShonda began loading him onto a stretcher. "What's going on?" Dean asked Cheryl, confused by the way they were all but ignoring Vera. "What'd you do to her?"

Cheryl smiled gently. "Same thing I did to you earlier, time is moving very slowly for her right now."

Atin pushed Dean down on the stretcher and began strapping him down. "Don't worry about her; we need to take care of you and your brother. Vera Kesterson is no longer your concern."

Dean stared at Cheryl and LaShonda for a moment, and then looked back to Atin. "Of course she's my concern! I'm Hunt leader; I'm responsible for everyone on my team! Vera is teaching Sammy, she gave us a home! You can't just leave her out here." Griffin yowled in agreement, intertwining himself around Atin's ankles.

Atin raised an eyebrow, both at Dean and his familiar. "Team? Never mind; we don't have time to talk. They're taking Sam to the house and he's going to need you. Come on."

Dean struggled, but he was injured and helpless against Atin and LaShonda, who was a lot stronger than she looked. Dean was torn between concern for Vera and for Sammy. He went limp in their hands. They were right about one thing, Sammy would need him. Vera was dying just like she had foreseen. He gazed back at Vera's broken body for as long as he could. He was glad to see that Griffin had stayed with her so she wouldn't die alone among strangers. He vowed then and there to take care of Jay, it was the least he could do for her sacrifice and saving his brother. The rain slowed to a sprinkle and the stars began to appear. He alone saw Ravenmocker, standing next to Cheryl, looking down at Vera with an unmistakable expression of grief.

The rituals Vera uses are a combination of "Traditional" Wiccan, a modification of a ritual published in Starhawk's Spiral Dance, and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentegram.

Althought the "traditional" Wiccan rituals and the Lesser Banishing Ritual have been published in numerous books THEY ARE NOT COPYRIGHTED. These are religious rituals used by hundreds of thousands of people. They can no more be copyrighted than the Lord's Prayer or the Sermon on the Mount.


	18. One Hour

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 18: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes**:

**Summary:** The one hour and eight minutes following the end of the last chapter.

Sam's consciousness erupted when he felt strange hands touching him. Sam's mind shrieked, trapped within his tortured body, unable to even draw away. Suddenly he was someplace dry and light, looking up at a white plaster ceiling. Pain, which had haunted him for hours, suddenly fled his body, making him gasp at its absence. His vision cleared and he saw a face with high cheekbones and dark skin hovering over him. Sam had seen this man before, but where? Was he one of the countless people his family had helped since he was a child?

The man noticed his gaze, and smiled suddenly. "It's okay Sam; I was fast enough to save you this time." Sam blinked. Save him? No, he was supposed to save people. Sam could hear other people, movement. Sam almost laughed when he heard Dean, yelling, cursing, but definitely alive. He could feel Star, she was close. She was in pain, but still living. Star had the resilience of all young things and would recover. Sam could hear Jay, too. Loud, angry, upset, but his voice was strong.

Vera? He couldn't hear her. She had cleansed him of the taint of the demons, his body had been in pain, but his soul was light and clean. Sam decided he could live with the rest, the maiming, the scars, the memories because his spirit had been healed. Where was she?

Suddenly Sam could feel an enormous drain, a terrible exhaustion as his face, hand, chest and genitals began to burn and itch. He arched his back and screamed, more out of surprise than pain. Another man came into view, blond, balding, but with understanding blue eyes. He gave Sam a reassuring smile before he felt more hands on him.

Blue, green, gold and silver energy was pouring into him. Sam could feel the bones in his crushed hand knit, feel the skin on his face rejoin and spread. There was a gentle hand in his brain, soothing, softening the past day. Sam was so tired, but he no longer felt like withdrawing into himself. He understood that he was safe. The pain, the nightmare was over. The hands on his body no longer terrified him to the point of becoming catatonic.

The hand in his mind slowly withdrew, but the burning itch in his face, hand and chest didn't. Sam could hear more yelling, a voice he didn't know, and an angry response. Then he let his eyes close and he drifted into exhaustion.

Griffin crouched next to Dean's priestess. Dean had been taken away with Sam, but it was wrong that these strangers had left the priestess behind. These new humans didn't realize how much she was needed. He looked up and mewled at the Principality that was standing over them.

"I know, Little One, but I can not do any more tonight. It is good that you stayed with her; Shade can not leave young Star yet. Dean is glad you stayed as well." Griffin was relieved. He thought Dean would want him to stay. He and Dean were new to each other; it wasn't always easy to know what his human needed. The dark-haired woman who could bend time looked at Griffin, frowning. At least she was bending time around Vera, giving her precious minutes. Griffin had a little hope; maybe they were coming back for her? He nuzzled the priestess' hand, letting her know she was not alone. She hadn't yet slipped away enough to see the sad-eyed Principality.

The clouds had rolled away revealing the bright stars and moon. Moonlight reflected in the mud puddles on the ground. Griffin's sharp ears caught the squish-slush-slap of someone running towards them awkwardly carrying several bulky items. Griffin cocked his head, it was a young Seer. The woman stopped bending time as they placed a cervical collar around the Vera's neck and carefully rolled her onto a plastic board with hand grips all along the sides.

Griffin trailed them as they loaded Vera in the back of the truck and leaped in behind them. The man drove slowly while the woman started to bend time again. Griffin squalled his own grief. She was slipping away in a soft haze of pain. Why didn't they take her with Dean and Sam?

As soon as Dean lost sight of Vera he quietly unsheathed a small throwing knife from the small of his back. In the confusion no one had checked him too thoroughly for weapons other than a very quick pat down. He moved carefully, cutting through his restraints; Atin began to talk to him when they got close to the house.

Atin's face was contracted with urgency. "Dean, we got to get some information from you fast."

Dean palmed the knife and glared. "Screw you. I don't have to tell you anything."

Atin clenched his teeth. "Please, we need to know what's going on here!"

Dean blinked and winced from the pain in his newly-cracked ribs as the gurney was hoisted up the stairs and across the doorway of the house. He was pushed through the kitchen and into the front hall. Dean shook his head, hissing in pain. These guys had to be aliens of some kind. "You jack ass, you're kidnapping me and my brother, or did you forget? Why should I tell you anything you can use?"

Atin shook his head. Dean was finding it hard to pay attention to him between his pain and the chaos in the hall. "We're not kidnapping you. You and your brother need medical attention. Look." Atin pointed to Sam, who was laying a few feet away from him. Dean turned his head and saw Sam's genitals heal completely, still covered in blood but whole beneath. He shuddered as he watched skin grow and his testicles reform into their correct shape. He could see Lin Yao cleaning Sam as she spoke urgently to Mike, whose face was frightening blank. A short blond man's hands were gently cradling Sam's head, his eyes closed.

Dean shivered again at the sight; convinced they were pod people. Nothing about this makes any sense. "Then what do you want?"

Atin took a deep breath, "Vera Kesterson, what is she? What has she done? Has she hurt you or Sam?"

Dean was getting both confused and angry. "You seemed to have a good reason to kill her earlier!"

Atin's face contorted for a moment; and from somewhere Dean felt an almost agonizing regret. "That might have been a mistake, that's why we need to know what is going."

Dean gaped at him, "Mistake? Mistake!" he shouted, despite the pain in his ribs. "You killed Vera and you think it was by mistake!"

Dean lashed out with his small knife, giving Atin a long shallow cut across his left forearm. He rolled off the gurney and shoved it towards Atin, putting most of his weight on his good right ankle. Atin yelled out a warning, but the rest of the Comacines barely glanced up, except for LaShonda, who carefully circled Dean. She and Atin exchanged glances, they had often worked together subduing rogue psychics, they didn't expect Dean to be too much of a problem.

Atin tried projecting calm and trust to Dean, but he wasn't responding very well to it. If Sam was also an Empath, Dean may have built up a resistance to certain types of psychic psychological manipulation. That was fairly common among non-gifted relatives and caregivers of psychics. Atin took a cautious step toward Dean and tried talking. "Dean, put down the knife, we didn't kill her. She's still alive. We're helping Sam; you see we're making him better, right?"

Dean knew he was trying to distract him, but he risked a quick glance at his brother, he could see they were working on his left hand now. Dean's eyes turned their intensity back on Atin. "Then where is she?" he demanded, refusing to be distracted.

Atin stepped sideways, circling Dean and making him follow his movement. "She's still outside. She was hurt much worse than you and Sam. We didn't do it, you saw that, right?"

Dean was incredulous. "You shot at her. You distracted her." He fumbled with his cell phone, thinking of calling Spencer and LeDonne for help.

Atin raised his voice over the clatter of medical equipment and Sam's sudden screams. "Dean, nobody you call can stop this."

Dean carefully scanned the hall, each breath harsh and painful. His eyes flicked to the hall behind Atin, the one that lead to the ritual room and library. Jay burst out of the bathroom door and came tearing out into the hall, yelling something about his aunt. Dean only had a glance of him before a short man built like a small tank followed and tackled Jay from behind, throwing him into the scarred wooden floor. Dean had to wince; Jay was gasping like the wind had been knocked out of him.

The little guy wrapped his arm around Jay's neck in a chokehold. "Leave Jay alone, you little shit," Dean yelled.

Atin glanced over his shoulder, biting back a curse. Where was Pascal? He was supposed to be helping with the younger Kesterson. "Zip, get him out of here!"

Atin turned his attention back towards Dean. Even though he was injured, Dean was obviously still a force to be reckoned with. "Dean, he didn't mean to hurt him, we know he's upset. He was hurt earlier, we're just trying to keep him calm and out of the way of our medical team."

There was a sudden clatter at the back door as Cheryl and Pascal came in with Vera Kesterson. While Dean's attention was distracted again, LaShonda lunged, knocking Dean down. She and Atin were on him in a heartbeat. Lin Yao broke away from Sam, scrambling across the floor to kneel next to a struggling Dean, quickly injecting him with a fast acting sedative.

Atin was still holding Dean down, making sure he was completely out before they treated his injuries, when suddenly an attack came from a totally unexpected source. One moment he was holding Dean still as he drifted into unconsciousness, and the next moment he was fending off four sets of claws and a small mouth full of fangs.

Cheryl released the time bubble just a little. Could Vera Kesterson really be a Guardian? Was that what Pascal's visions had been about? Cheryl decided to treat her as one until they knew for sure. She was probably dying and it would hurt nothing. "Are you in any pain?" Cheryl asked softly.

Vera's roaming eyes seem to finally notice her. "Hurts to breathe," she managed to say after a moment.

"My name is Cheryl, I'm not a nurse but I can give you a shot of morphine. Do you want it?"

Vera gasped in pain. "No, can't go like that, not in sacred space." Cheryl was confused, what did she mean by sacred space?

She laid her hand on Vera's brow, hoping to comfort the dying woman. "The others are working on Dean and Sam. Your nephew was walking back to the house earlier, he seemed tired but okay."

Vera tried to speak again. "Good, I hope Sam..." the rest of what she tried to say was just a mumble.

Cheryl nudged a wet cat away from her in annoyance. It kept meowing loudly in the closed space in the back of the truck. Finally she gave up and began petting the soggy tangle of fur. The cat was so dirty now it was hard to tell what color it was. "Hey kitty, sorry no treats."

The meows and Cheryl's comment caught Vera's faltering attention. "Not a kitty...Dean? Where are you?"

"Back in the house," Cheryl tried to comfort her, knowing she would want to see them again before she went. "Just hang in there."

Vera didn't seem to understand her. "Griffin? Why? I need to see Jay."

Cheryl sighed. This was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. She wished Pascal would hurry. The trip across the fields seemed to be taking years.

"Jay?" Vera asked again.

"Jay's in the house." Cheryl repeated again. "We'll be there in a minute."

The truck finally slowed to a stop. Pascal came around the back to help Cheryl maneuver Vera out. Cheryl thought he looked too young to be out here tonight. His usually curly hair was plastered to his head and his eyes were wide in a pale face. "She still alive?" The tone of his voice made her realize that Pascal wholeheartedly believed Vera Kesterson was a Guardian. Her heart ached for him, knowing how hard Seers took things when they couldn't save a life.

"Barely," Cheryl responded curtly, not wanting to give an unrealistic assessment of the situation. Better not to get Pascal's hopes up.

Griffin ran along side of Cheryl, his eyes anxiously on Vera's still, pale hand drifting above him. He hoped they were taking her to the same place Dean was, so he could be with him too. The Principality followed as well, waiting until Vera would need him.

As Griffin padded through the door to the front hall the hair on his back bristled out. The man who was talking to his human earlier was holding him down on the hard wood floor. Vera may be hurt, but Griffin knew his duty. With a furious scream he launched himself across the room and flung himself at Dean's captor. He flew at the man's face, but the man managed to fend him off with his forearm. Griffin was still pleased when he heard his enemy's yelp of pain as most of his claws found flesh. Griffin tumbled to the floor, but with an ear splitting yowl that echoed off the walls. He twisted, ready to launch another attack when he felt someone behind him. Before he knew it, he was thrown outside onto the front porch, where he futilely attacked the front door in a fury.

After a few moments of growling and pacing, the young cat calmed down enough to form a plan. There were a lot of windows, surely someone must have left one open. He could claw his way through the screen and get back into the house. Griffin reminded himself that he was a familiar, and his place was with his human. These bizarre strangers couldn't keep him away from Dean.

Ben had been in healing links with Mike more times than he could count. Together the two of them could, and often did, work miracles. Mike healed bodies from traumatic injuries, and he calmed the stress and anguish of the mind. He couldn't make them forget the horrific events that hurt them, but he could make sure they didn't have flashbacks, nightmares or suffer self-loathing because of whatever tragedy had befallen them. 

Mike usually was miserly with his power; healing only enough to be sure his patients would live and suffer no maiming. A few scars here and there were the price of being a member of the Order. Mike doled his power out so sparingly for a good reason, even he had his limits, and you never know when someone else might need his strength to survive.

This time was different. Mike was pouring healing into Sam with a speed that astonished even him. Sam's internal injuries, his anus and genitals were totally healed, the bones in his crushed hand now restored.

Ben grabbed Mike's shoulder. "Stop, Mike, stop! Sam is going to live; you can finish the rest later." For the first time Ben was afraid Mike was ready to burn himself out on a patient.

Mike glared at him furious at being pulled out of a healing trance. "I am not going to let him wake up and see himself like this! I'll work on Dean a few days from now." Ben gazed at him dumbfounded for a moment. Mike was his foster brother, they had grown up together and Ben had long since gotten over being jealous of his greater gifts. Despite Mike's arrogance, he'd always had a deep wellspring of caring and compassion that he covered with arrogance to keep most people at arm's length. 

"Mike," Ben put as much emotion into that one word he could, reminding Mike of all the times they had spent together, all of the childhood secrets they shared. "What about Vera? The one who fought that demon, what about her? She may even be a Guardian."

They were both momentarily surprised when Lin Yao ran to sedate Dean they hadn't even noticed he was fighting Atin and LaShonda. Jay was still yelling as Pascal and Cheryl brought in Vera on a backboard. A large wet cat then attacked Atin. Lin Yao grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and threw it out the front door.

Mike finally spared a glance for Vera Kesterson. "We are not sure yet if she even is one. Guardians die all the time. The boy will take her place. Besides, I don't have permission to heal her."

Ben was stunned by the callousness of Mike's attitude. Mike was usually kept out of the field these days so he wouldn't be tempted to heal those that he came across who needed it. He would never turn his back on anyone he even suspected was a Guardian; most of the time he'd be putting in an urgent call to Mistress Tudor for permission to save a life.

Now he would rather be sure Sam Winchester didn't wake up tomorrow morning with his face bandaged while he let a possible guardian die. Mike could still be sure Sam didn't scar, he could have set the bones in Sam's hands and healed them slowly over several days to conserve his power. Mike's obsession with the Winchester brothers was even more deep seated and dangerous than he realized. They were Hunters, how could they fulfill their destinies if Mike wanted to wrap them in cotton and keep them protected?

Ben tried to restrain his own fury. "You're not even trying, you're not calling Hradani!"

Mike looked at him as if he were surprised that Ben was angry. "I don't have time" was all he said before turning his attention back to Sam.

"Well I do." Ben spat the words out like venom that had been collecting in his mind over the last few moments. He turned away from his brother in disgust and frantically searched the house for a telephone. Cell reception was bad tonight and he didn't want to take a chance on a bad connection.

He found a telephone in the library and dialed the number. "Mistress Hradini Tudor's personal line; this is her assistant Jeffery speaking."

Ben's tongue almost tripped over itself with his urgency. "Jeffrey, this is Ben Jorgensen with the Winchester contact team in eastern Tennessee. I need to speak with Hradani, it's an emergency."

Jeffrey sounded reluctant. "You do realize that it is after 4 in the morning here; Mistress Hradani has had a very long day."

Ben bit back a growl. "I know that, I wouldn't be calling her right now if it wasn't literally a matter of life and death. Wake her up, I'll take any fallout."

"Very well."

A few moments later Hradani came on the line, sounding as aware and crisp as ever with her Indian-British accent. "Yes Ben?"

Ben quickly recounted the events that had taken place since he had spoken to her earlier in the day; how Vera Kesterson was possibly a Guardian, Sam's injuries, Pascal's past life, the demons that had been exorcised and Mike's obsession with the Winchester brothers and his callous indifference to the life of a possible Guardian. He was almost gasping with the effort to get it all out; desperately hoping that he could convince Hradani fast enough to save Vera Kesterson's life.

Pascal was stunned by the shouting match he just witnessed between Ben and Mike. From everything he had heard about the brothers this was totally out of character for both of them. Mike returned to healing Sam's slashed face and chest as if nothing had happened. Pascal tried to get his attention, but he seemed to have blocked everything out. Pascal's heart dropped as he saw Sam's face become smooth and take on a healthy tone. Mike had poured an astonishing amount of power into the younger Winchester. He probably didn't have anything left.

After Mike came out of trance, he tried again. "She's a Guardian," he said desperately, motioning to where Vera lay on the floor, "you can't just leave her there to die!"

Mike glared at him, furious for being questioned on his decisions for a second time that night. "We don't know that. If she is, the boy will take her place."

Pascal was on the verge of tears. He had to save the Guardian. He could see Ravenmocker crouching over Vera. "Jay will go nuts if she dies; he's already threatened to put a blood curse on us all!"

Mike snarled a sarcastic response. "A curse? Go take care of Jay before I report you for insubordination."

"She's important. I Saw it. If she dies, there'll be a war," Pascal pleaded.

Mike stared at him. Wars between Orders were rare; how could a backwoods magician/psychic, no matter how powerful, be the cause of a war, and with whom?

Before Mike had a chance to question the young Seer further Ben came skidding back into the front hall clutching a phone. "Mike, I have the Mistress on the line!" he called, brandishing the cordless telephone.

Mike grunted in annoyance, he needed to get Sam settled for the night and take a look at Dean. "Tell her I don't have time to talk."

Ben's face turned plum red. "She says stop now and come to the phone. That's a direct order!" Mike snarled and snatched the phone out of Ben's hand, stalking back to the kitchen to hear her.

Ben looked around the room, quickly deciding how to use the scant resources that were left. They had to keep the woman at his feet alive long enough to find out if she really was a Guardian. "Mike's been relieved of command. Cheryl, how much longer can you keep her bubbled?"

The strain was showing on her. "Five more minutes is all I can do." Ben could tell Cheryl was committed to keeping Vera Kesterson alive for now as well. It made sense; she and Pascal seemed to have bonded over this mission.

Ben's eyes ranged over the people in the room until he found Lin Yao. "What do you have left?" he asked desperately, knowing she too had been drained along with Mike working on Sam.

Lin Yao looked at him wearily through her tangled hair. "About the same." Ben thanked God that between Cheryl being able to slow time and Lin Yao's ability to stabilize critically injured patients they had ten precious minutes.

Ben turned back to Pascal, who was staring at a spot on the wall above Vera's head. Ben wondered for a moment, but they didn't have time. "Pascal, didn't you say Jay is a booster?"

Pascal jumped and looked at him gratefully. "Yes, Jay could boost Cheryl but he's almost drained himself. What about Zip?"

Ben shook his head. "No, he's not trained, this is too dangerous. What do you think he has left? Lin Yao, be ready to take over from Cheryl."

Pascal's brow creased, looking far too old for a moment. Ben almost shuddered at the strange look in his eyes. "Jay would give everything to save his aunt."

They didn't have time for romantic self sacrifice tonight. "We can't let him give everything, he has to stay alive." Ben would not let Jay Kesterson burn himself out.

Pascal nodded. "I'll go get him."

Mike slowly walked back into the room, his face cold and stiff. "I don't know if I have enough left to save her, LaShonda, give me a total run down again."

LaShonda looked relieved as she gave Mike a comprehensive list of Vera's injuries. 

Mike grunted again, looking like he was being forced to put his hand into a fire. "Move Sam off that gurney and her onto it."

Pascal came racing back into the room, Jay on his heels while Zip clung to his arm, trying to keep him restrained. "Jay says Zip can feed him power and he can stabilize it." Pascal reported.

Mike's eyes glittered maliciously. "Good, can't risk the baby Guardian."

"Mike!" Ben reprimanded.

"Yes sir, I will obey with a glad heart."

Zip had stopped Jay about ten feet away from Vera, afraid that he would jostle her in his near hysterics.

"Shut up," Jay yelled; his voice still raw. "Just keep her from dying."

Mike seemed to be in only two modes that night, grunting or snarling. Somehow he managed to do both at once. "Get over here; you might be a psychic wunderkind, but this type of work still requires touch."

Jay didn't react to Mike's sarcasm but turned to Zip. "Are you right handed or left?"

Zip was puzzled, "Right handed." He wanted to look away from Jay but couldn't. Jay was transmitting his deep sorrow and his eyes were begging him for something he wasn't sure he could give.

Jay took a deep breath and was obviously trying to compose himself. "Put your right hand on my back, between my shoulder blades, okay? That's your projecting hand."

Zip complied, trying to stifle a surge of excitement. He could actually do something; he had ability too, just like the rest of the Comacines. Jay reached out to touch Mike, who twitched irritably.

"Let's see how far I get," the healer muttered. He looked back to Jay. "Don't tap yourself out. You don't get to die tonight. If you are a Guardian Line, she's expendable, you are not." Jay's eyes glared out of a bruised face. Mike snarled again. "Reality's a bitch, quit thinking so hard."

His snarls and sarcasm stopped as soon as Mike felt power flooding into him. He had never experienced anything close to this. It was almost a mystical experience. He felt Jay slip forward, leaning on his back for support. Jay's body felt warm and pliant against his and for a moment Mike had to drive out wholly inappropriate thoughts.

He reached out his hands, laying them gently along Vera's ribs. He would only do enough to keep her alive until morning. He broke off after a moment, frustrated. "Damn it, she's not letting me in. What sort of idiot has such hard shields they won't let a healer in when they're dying?"

Mike could feel as much as hear Jay's sobs. "Aunt Vera! Take down your shields, please?"

Vera laid on the backboard, looking at the ceiling. She couldn't move her head due to the neck brace they had put on her. She felt strange. Her back hurt, and it was painful to breathe. She knew she had been injured badly when she was thrown into the altar by the demon. Vera could hear movement in the hall around her and the chandelier was above her. Occasionally a young Asian woman came into her range of view, but other than that, she seemed oddly detached. She could hear people calling Sam and Dean's names, and she thought she heard Jay yelling a little while ago.

Was this what it felt like to be dying? Everything seemed to be slipping away slowly. Vera knew that just leaving her here was a bad sign. Whoever their rescuers were had decided that her injuries were so extensive that it was a waste of resources to treat her.

Where was Jay? She wanted to see her nephew again, to give him her blessings and his last Initiation. She needed to pass Jay this last bit of power. Vera had put all of her hopes and energy into Jay from the time he was born. In many ways, he was more Vera's child than his mother's.

Vera heard Dean's voice rising in anger. Dean always seemed angry, or at least aggressive. She wouldn't mind seeing him again, but she had to see Jay. She tried calling out Jay's name, tried to catch the eyes of the young woman, but she wasn't paying attention to her. Vera closed her eyes, defeated more by not being able to see Jay than by dying. She knew her end could come tonight; she didn't want to die, but if Jay, Dean and Sam were all right, she was content to go.

Vera felt someone touching her cheek. She opened her eyes as quickly as she could, hoping that it was Jay. It almost crushed her faltering heart when she looked into the dark face and eyes of a stranger instead. The man's long, dark hair fell across her face as he stroked her cheek.

"Don't give up hope yet, little sister. Jay has not forgotten you; he is fighting for your life even now." He smiled gently, a bare, soft curve to his lips. "I will stay with you" he promised. The strange man's presence was comforting. 

Vera decided that if she might die, she would die while praising her Gods and the Light which she tried to serve as best as she could. "Blessed be the Air, that gives Life," she whispered. "Blessed be the Water, that gives Life; Blessed be the Earth, that gives Life; Blessed be the Fire, that gives Life. Blessed be the Light, that is Life and that maintains the Balance. I Dedicate myself to the Light." Vera's voice began to falter as she struggled to finish the prayer. "May I be part of the Balance. Blessed be the Light."

Vera paused for a moment, her thoughts going to her faith once more. Although she recited the Charge of the Goddess in her mind, only a few broken phrases did she manage to speak. "…I give knowledge of the spirit eternal and beyond death…freedom…reunion with those that have gone before…I call upon your soul…from me all things proceed and to me they must return…heart that rejoices…mirth…the Mystery…never find it…been with you …beginning…"

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity; Vera could see people clustering around her. An IV was being placed in her arm. She could see Jay's pale, frightened face. "Aunt Vera" she heard him call. "Please take down your shields; you have to let him help you."

She was confused. They almost never took down their shields, and certainly not in the presence of strangers. Vera felt strange hands touching her, laden with power. A healer; Jay was feeding him energy. "Aunt Vera, please!" Jay's voice was anguished and she could see him crying. Even when he was a child she hated to see him cry. If it was so important to Jay, she would do it. Jay was the only one that she would do this for.

Vera let her shields and illusions fall away in layers reluctantly. She never liked showing what she really was. It was too dangerous. Silence was power, and when she was younger it was the only type of power she had. Vera had turned letting people underestimate her into an art form. She had pretended to be less than what she was for so long she had almost convinced herself that her abilities were as weak as she depicted.

Suddenly life was pouring into her, and Vera knew that she was no longer dying. It was becoming easier to breathe, and her body exploded into pain. She screamed once before someone put morphine into her IV and she drifted into unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was a triumphant cry from the strange man with the long, black hair.

Ben stared at Jay for a moment from across the front hall. He was sitting on the stairs between Zip and Pascal; slumped, appearing so hopeless and dejected it hurt to look at him. Ben may not be a Seer, but he knew the young man was going to be a problem whether he was a Guardian or not. Jay was projecting a psychically 'invisible' aura, the same trick he used earlier to hide from them. Thankfully, Ben knew how to read body language.

The situation was finally under control; Sam and Dean were both asleep in their room. Ben had to wonder why the two of them shared a bed despite all the empty bedrooms. He supposed it was a hold over from their childhood; being raised in roaming poverty they probably shared a bed often and they still did it now out of habit and comfort. Whatever the situation, it was best they were kept together. Ben knew it would keep them calmer when they woke up and could see each other. He knew Greg would probably grumble about this, saying it would be easier to control them if they were separated, but Ben knew that would be unforgivably cruel.

Vera Kesterson was being kept on the backboard until someone could drive into Johnson City or Knoxville to get medical equipment. Mike healed her internal injuries just enough to keep her alive. None of them wanted to waste resources if she wasn't a Guardian. If she was, they needed to keep her immobile to be sure they didn't aggravate her spinal injuries. If she wasn't a Guardian, even if she were not behind the deaths in the area and wasn't manipulating Sam and Dean, they would have to let her die. Their resources were limited; they couldn't afford to keep non-Comacine members or people who were not Guardians or Hunters alive. If that were the case, they would take Jay with them to Hawaii and keep him there until he turned 21. Other Orders would have no issues with forcible recruiting an underage and very strong psychic. He might hate them afterwards, not understanding how the Orders operated, but at least he would be safe and allowed to live his life in freedom. Ben just wished he was one of theirs, but no one had recognized him as a Comacine. He hoped the young man would join the Winchesters as a Hunter. He had too much potential talent to spend his life on a farm in an isolated town.

Ben sighed; they would have to question him in the morning. They needed answers and soon, but right now Jay was too exhausted. They would put him to bed and try tomorrow morning. The bones, the bloody crystals, not being able to contact Nora Bonesteel; there were too many issues that had to be resolved.

He spoke quietly to LaShonda, who nodded and found both an oral and injectable painkiller and sedative. They would try to get Jay to take the tablets first; if he refused he would be given the injection. Ben was in no mood for any more arguments or surprises tonight. He signaled to Atin, and the two of them and LaShonda approached the stairs. Jay looked at them apprehensively, much to Ben's regret. He wished he had no reason to fear them, but the night's events had made that impossible.

"Jay, LaShonda has a mild pain reliever and something to help you sleep for you to take." Ben said in a gentle tone, empathically projecting calm to Jay. Ben could tell he wasn't affected. Was anyone on this farm responsive to empathic ability? "Then we'll put you in the room with Sam and Dean."

Jay's eyes flickered to where Vera was laying in the hall. "No, let me stay with my aunt, please!"

Ben let his expression harden; he could see he was going to have to be firm with him. He hated it, but he was going to have to be cruel to be kind; he needed to establish his authority. "That's out of the question. She needs complete quiet to recuperate. The less people with her, the better. End of discussion. Will you take the pill or do we have to inject you?"

LaShonda played 'good cop', but Ben could tell she was genuinely touched by the young man's fear and worry. "Come on, honey, you're hurt and you need to sleep, you can see her tomorrow."

Jay's eyes went wild. "No, you're letting her die, please let me be with her, I don't want her to die alone..." Anything else he said was lost among sobs as he finally broke down. Ben nodded to Atin, who enveloped him in a bear hug while LaShonda quickly sedated him. Ben saw Pascal's face drawn with worry, and Zip looked away, obviously upset as well. Ben was worried about Pascal; he was getting too emotionally involved. Maybe that was a good thing in Jay's case, though. Jay might respond better to someone who believed him.

Atin murmured comfort to Jay as he slowly went limp, rubbing his back. Ben was glad he was on the mission; Atin was excellent in the field dealing with frightened psychics. His patience was amazing and he never held grudges, even when he was injured by them. Atin wholeheartedly believed in the Order's mission. After the sedative had fully taken effect, he hefted Jay over his shoulder and carried him to Sam and Dean's room, laying him on the mattress and box springs from his room. It would be easier to keep all three of them together for now, but Ben was careful to be sure the sedation would wear off at different times for each of them. He didn't want all three of these men to wake up at the same time.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly he turned to LaShonda as Atin left the room. "Will you stay and monitor them for awhile?"

She nodded. "All right, but I don't see how any of them can even blink. Do you want to dig around Jay's head a bit while he's out? The way he can disappear is just wrong."

Ben's brow creased as he considered scanning Jay's mind. "I know, but after the kind of traps we experienced in Vera's office, I'm afraid if I dig around I'll fall into another one. We just don't know what either of them is capable of."

LaShonda shuddered. "All right, but now that you mention it, I'm almost afraid to be alone with him." She looked down at Jay, still pale under his scrapes and bruises. "Have somebody bring me some ice packs; he's swelling up pretty badly. Zip bandaged his wrists too tightly. I'll need to change them."

"Well so far, both Vera and Jay's magic seems to be defensive, so that's good news. As long as we don't threaten them, then we should be safe."

She responded with an angry grunt. "Well, I guess that should have told us something."

Ben blinked his eyes rapidly. "Too bad we missed the point. I don't want to make anymore mistakes; the sooner we package everyone up for Hawaii the better I'll feel. I wish Pascal could see what is going to happen. I have a bad feeling things aren't over yet."

LaShonda was so tired her childhood accent began slipping out. "Honey, you ain't the only one. I'm not looking forward to Greg and Miriam getting back. Keep 'em away from this poor boy and his aunt."

He grimaced, Greg's hatred of all magic was well known. Most Comacines distrusted it, but few detested it so strongly. Miriam wasn't much better. "Greg, you're right and you just reminded me we can't get in touch with them. Last Mike heard their van got stuck." Ben groaned. "Maybe that was just as well."

LaShonda was quiet a moment, her brown eyes bloodshot and weary. "With the Kestersons I'm not surprised. If they have some sort of defensive magic it might have been responsible for it."

Ben looked at Jay speculatively. "You may be on to something there. You okay here for awhile? I'll send in Cheryl if you want company."

LaShonda smiled her thanks and looked at the sleeping Winchesters. Nothing turned out the way it was supposed to, but at least everyone was still alive. The minute Ben shut the door she heard him say in astonishment, "How did you get back in here? Shoo, shoo!" She then heard a loud hiss. LaShonda was sure that cat was wearing army boots the way it thundered down the stairs.

The text message read: "Hey Sugar, vision. See me." Will Woodfin closed his cell thoughtfully; the message was from his wife and Seer, Yolanda. It had to be an important and urgent vision for her to text him; usually she could wait for him to return home. As head of the Priory of Nyx his duties often took him away from home. He hesitated on accepting to be the leader, not wanting Yolanda to be raising their five children without his support. Will had accepted only after Yolanda told him she'd had a vision where he had led the Order into a new era. Exactly what the new era was to be hadn't been revealed yet. Maybe this was the moment.

Will had wrapped up his business early so he was already on his way home. He guided his motorcycle to the underground parking of his headquarters and took a private elevator to his executive suite on the top floor. Eleven-year-old Ethan was playing the Xbox in the living room, eight-year-old Rosie ran to greet him and Will swept her up in a big hug. The twins and Amy must either be in bed or out. Yolanda's eyes were worried and distracted, Will was surprised she was letting the kids stay up so late, it was almost midnight. She shooed Rosie off and led Will into the office.

Once the office door was closed Yolanda let out her breath. "Did you hear the Winchester boys have been found?" Will nodded; the gossip among the Orders was that the Comacines had finally tracked them down. Will thought it was for the best. The Comacines, despite their tight-assed, control freak issues, were excellent at helping Hunters and rogue psychics. From the rumors it sounded as if the brothers could use help in both departments. Will was puzzled at the anxious cast over his wife's dark and delicate features. How could two near legendary, but homeless Hunters cause so much concern?

"I saw them with that old teacher of yours Sugar, can never remember her name. She and the Winchester brothers could be the start of a three-way war between the major Orders. There are too many variables." Yolanda's eyes were wide with fear. "The balance of power could tip into the Knight's favor. Somehow a number of underage, very rare and powerful psychics are going to be found around them. You know how the Knights are." Will felt a slow anger burning in his gut. The Laws allowed anyone under the age of 21 to be forcibly recruited into an Order if they were not a part of an established Hunter or Guardian Line. The logic was that the Lines were very small compared to the Orders, and the Line's younger members had to be protected. The children of Order members and any psychics that were not part of a Line were fair game. Some Orders took advantage of this, others did so rarely. The Knights were one of the worst.

"How old is Sam Winchester? Do we know?" Will asked. Yolanda shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I know he must be close." From the bits of gossip Will had been able to glean, it sounded like Sam was a strong Seer, telekinetic, empath and had remote vision, a powerful combination. It was rare that someone had more than one ability; Sam had four and it sounded as if he was fairly strong in all of them. He would be a tasty prize for the Knights. Even if he were over 21, they still might try taking him.

If Sam and Dean Winchester were with Vera Kesterson, it probably meant she had taken Sam on as a student. Will had been the head of the Priory for a little over a year now and had been considering contacting Vera again. It looked like events were forcing his hand. If the Knights managed to take Sam and any other strong psychics, the balance of power could shift in their favor, which the Priory would not allow. Second, the Priory of Nyx owed Vera Kesterson a great deal, and he knew it. Will wasn't going to let her and her students become pawns in the centuries long struggle between the ancient Orders.

"Dedication to the Light" written by Inga Johannesen

"Charge of the Goddess" by Doreen Valiente.


	19. Aftermath Part 1

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 19: Aftermath Part 1 **

**Summary:** Another Order shows up; chaos ensues.

AUTHORS' NOTE: The vocabulary and speech patterns of the characters are reflected in this story, both in dialogue and point of view. The dialects included are Southern Appalachian, Black Vernacular English and Chiac (Acadian French in Canada). Also, the first half of this chapter is heavy on the Ballad novels characters & some OCs. Not to worry, the Winchester boys are going to be back on center stage in the later half of the chapter.

Nora finally raised her face from her hands. They would all survive the night, but it was so close. She would ring the large dinner bell out front at first light, so the folks down the mountain aways would know to send someone. Nora had every intention of getting to the farm as soon as she could after sun up. Vera Kesterson must live. If she didn't, Nora would have to stay years longer than she wanted, getting Sam, Jay and Kayla ready. Nora was tired; Vera could bridge the gap between generations so easily and so well.

She needed to set these new Hunters in the valley 'aright'. Nora also needed to take the farm and household in hand. These Hunters would have to stay a bit, making right what they had done. She would get Jane Arrowood to help, and have young Joe come along as well. These strangers would have to understand that this community knew far more than they realized. Folks in Wake County might not want to speak of it, but they knew who their Guardians were. The Winchesters and Kestersons were not as alone as they thought.

Ben looked on with dismay as the Priory arrived. Randy West, the investigator they requested, arrived with four other Priory members, all on motorcycles. For some ridiculous reason Randy insisted on being called Red Dog. Ben guessed it had something to do with being a natural titian redhead.

The Priory were certainly odd, but having a pack of them showing up looking like a biker gang was strange even for them. With five assorted motorcycles parked in the driveway along with various farm vehicles, the rental vans and Dean's Impala the place was beginning to look like it was owned by a schizophrenic auto dealer.

The fact that the farm was in shambles and the house was falling apart did not add to Ben's comfort level. Zip had blown out half the wiring in the house that morning as his new ability went haywire, so it was a hunt to find a working electrical outlet. Zip had been forbidden from using anything electrical. Cheryl had been butted by a goat headlong into a compost pile and LaShonda had several uncomfortable minutes when a local farmer brought back a pair of horses. LaShonda had no idea what to do with the two large animals. Mike actually rode, but he was in full prima donna mode and dramatically refused to leave his patient in case she was a Guardian to help out with the equine residents of the farm. Ben had sarcastically defined the word 'hypocrisy' for Mike, but the healer pretended he hadn't issued an execution order on Vera less than 24 hours ago. That rather matted and bedraggled cat from last night seemed to be stalking Atin; it had attacked him several times. Atin had changed from shorts to jeans out of self defense; somehow it kept getting back into the house. His tattooed legs were marred by angry cat scratches.

In the upstairs hallway a large section of crumbling plaster had fallen from the ceiling and onto Lin Yao just after she had showered. She wasn't hurt, but she wasn't pleased to have to take another shower. Ben wasn't happy to hear her self-centered complaints. It didn't help that there were only two and a half baths with this many people staying here. There was occasionally a line for the outhouse. The two most structurally sound parts of the house were the ritual room and the screened in back porch. Just thinking of the ritual room made Ben shudder so he had been spending most of his time on the porch. Another mystery of the place: the roof was green; a nice, soft green. Ben worried that it had molded over and was about to fall in on them, but he didn't see any water damage on the ceilings. After everything that had happened so far on this mission, it wouldn't surprise Ben if the place did collapse on them.

Then another fiasco had struck just a half hour earlier. Billy Ray had arrived with Greg, Miriam, Fawn and Millie. Billy Ray had to rescue Greg and Miriam from a farm house 30 miles away. They had gotten washed off the road by a flooded creek. They couldn't get a tow service and had to abandon the van. Three more Comacine security personnel had arrived a little earlier bringing much needed medical equipment. Ben was glad for the back up; many members of the team were exhausted. It was good to get the team back together again, but the timing couldn't have been worse. He was still trying to get rid of the team from the Order of Knights.

They had requested assistance from the Knights after Pascal's vision of possible demonic activity in the area. The Comacines usually dealt with Hunter and Guardian Lines and rogue psychics, so were not prepared to deal with a demon. The Knights were a great help in dealing with certain types of supernatural creatures, but they were terrible about forced recruiting and would snatch up any powerful underage psychic they could lay their hands on. To make matters even worse, one of the Knights, Jennifer Greer, was distantly related to Vera Kesterson and was wondering what they were doing here. Ben was caught totally by surprise and told her he had no idea who she was talking about. If that hadn't made them suspicious enough, as soon as the van with the other Com team members arrived Fawn had come running up to the house demanding to see Mike. Ben almost groaned out loud. The Knights now knew the head of their medical division was here for some reason and a twelve-year-old girl was looking for him. It didn't help that Millie was asking Greg what a booster was at about the same time.

The Knights had to realize that something very strange was going on here, and there were probably some newly found, very powerful underage psychics here. Ben was sitting in a crumbling farm house with two underage boosters, a young healer, a powerful rogue psychic and his understandably enraged brother. Then there was Vera Kesterson – whatever she was.

Ben just hoped that 'Red Dog' could get some answers out of Jay. Atin had tried that morning; he was great at coaxing information out of frightened psychics, but Jay Kesterson had talked circles around him. After almost an hour of trying to get him to answer the most basic of questions Atin gave up. Ben was glad he had put in a call to the Priory last night asking for their assistance. The Priory practiced both magic and used psychic abilities, and since Jay did as well he hoped they could pry some answers out of the young man. Dean and Sam were both still sedated, and Ben was thankful to only have to deal with Jay right now.

"Ben!" Red Dog hailed him after the rumble of the cycles had faded. "Sounds like you've had quite a time here. Mind if the boys come in? Long ride from Gatlinburg."

Ben took a deep breath and told himself to stay in control of his temper. You never knew exactly what the Priory's agenda was. That they were willing to help was surprising; Ben wondered about their motivation. "Glad you could make it here so quickly. Uh, why did you bring the whole team Red Dog?"

Red Dog shrugged. "We were at a bike rally in Gatlinburg. The guys decided to come along; beautiful country up here. We're getting ready for the Trail of Tears run out of Chattanooga."

Ben was a bit more comfortable now that the entire security team was here and they had another three person security team join them. They outnumbered the Priory, not that he was expecting any trouble. Despite the high weirdness that seemed to follow them, the Priory members were usually a pretty sociable bunch. "We haven't had a chance to clean up yet." Ben warned, "come in."

The front hall looked like a battle had been fought in it and then the soldiers patched up in the same place. Blood was smeared on the walls and had made small puddles on the floor. There were still bloody gurneys, discarded IV bags, gauze and surgical tape strewn around the room.

Red Dog paused in the doorway, the four other Priory members piling up behind him on the porch. "Damn, what the hell happened?"

Ben looked grim, the unaccustomed weight of command bearing down on him. "This is the result of an inter-dimensional attack. We patched everyone up the best we could. Pascal!"

Pascal darted into the front hall from the kitchen, looking on edge.

Ben gave him a cold glance; Pascal was out of favor for leaving Zip alone to restrain Jay when he left to get Vera from the field. The fact that he was having rogue visions and his psychic shields were fluxing badly didn't help. "Show these men to the kitchen please." With a slight nod Pascal lead the rest of the Priory team to the kitchen leaving Ben and Red Dog alone.

Red Dog's narrow, freckled face was a mask of concern. "What's going on Ben?"

The new Comacine team leader rubbed his balding head nervously. "That's what we were hoping you could tell us. We have a young man upstairs, Jay Kesterson. He's somehow involved in what we think is a case of necromancy, blood magic and demon summoning. He was arrested in Chattanooga for stealing human remains but he won't say where the bones are. He says he gave them to some Native American activist for reburial, but he won't say who."

Red Dog gave Ben a piercing look, blue eyes snapping under red hair. "I need to know a little more about what's been going on around this kid if you want me to get any answers out of him."

Ben shifted his weight from one foot to another. "We don't know much, Jay was arrested about a month ago for breaking into the archeology lab to steal remains. Here's his booking report."

Red Dog looked over the paperwork. "Light Feather involved in this? He usually kills necros on sight."

Ben twitched. "I know, that's what makes this all so suspicious."

"Why have him arrested? If Light Feather knew where Jay was he could have killed him."

"We know Jay had help, probably the Winchesters." Ben said with a barely suppressed grunt of frustration at all the seeming paradoxes of the situation. "We are speculating but maybe Light Feather was hoping Jay would lead him back to whoever convinced him to steal the bones. We don't think Jay Kesterson would have done this on his own."

"Winchesters helping procure bones for a necromancer?" Red Dog frowned, not liking what he was hearing. "I thought they weren't into that."

Ben threw his hands into the air. "They were there to kill an Uktena, we still aren't sure of their connection to Jay."

"How long have you had Jay in your custody?"

"We arrived late last night."

"Anyone tried talking to him yet?

"Atin tried," Ben said morosely "kid must have had training, couldn't get anything out of him."

Red Dog couldn't help but smirk. "This should be a challenge. Atin's good. How is the kid acting? Anything I should know before I take a run at him?"

"He's young, he's scared and he's hiding something or protecting someone so he won't talk."

"Huh, any chance family is involved? Jay's still pretty young."

Ben had a strange, suspicious feeling. Red Dog seemed to be using Jay's first name a little too freely, with a little too much familiarity. "Does the Priory have a special interest in the Kestersons?"

Red Dog gave him a chilling smile. "Kestersons. Plural. Yes, we do." Ben could have cursed, letting slip that more then Jay was involved. "Vera Kesterson. Where is she, is she alive, and how is she wrapped up in all of this?"

"She's here and alive for the moment. What is your connection to her?"

"She and Will have history; she better stay alive."

Ben raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Really? Old flame?"

Red Dog gave him a hard stare. "No, something more, but I'm not sure you'd understand. It's a magic thing."

"Reassure Will we are doing what we can to keep her alive. Mike is here. Was there anything else?"

Red Dog's jaw thrust out just a bit. "I'd like to see her before I leave."

Ben could see a whole new layer of trouble developing. No way was he going to allow that until he had a better idea of what was going on. Mistress Tudor had negotiated some sort of payment to the Priory for their help. "That wasn't part of the agreement."

"Agreements can be changed." That same cold smile was back on his face.

Ben felt his own smile freeze into place. Damn, he wished Atin were handling this rather than babysitting Jay right now. "Yes, they can."

Fifteen minutes later, Ben was facing an enraged Priory interrogator. Red Dog's face had hardened, making the unattractive man look brutally ugly. "Don't make any mistakes here, Ben. It won't be pretty if you do. See you at the Conclave."

Ben grimly thought that it was too late for that, but said nothing. He was still too stunned by the threat from the Priory. Rather than trying to find out about the bones, Red Dog had asked Jay about what happened last night and about his aunt. Ben had cut the session short and asked the Red Dog to leave. They were obviously using the situation to spy and to contact the Kestersons. He turned curtly to Atin. "Sedate Jay and put him back in with the Winchesters."

Atin blinked. "What the hell was that?" He asked as Greg showed Red Dog and his team out.

Ben shook his head in angered amazement. "The Priory just threatened us. If anything happens to Vera..."

Atin gasped. "Oh...she does magic and is a psychic too..."

Ben nodded thoughtfully and continued, getting his own anger under control. "I think it is more than that, Will Woodfin has a particular interest in her that seems shared by the rest of the Order. Why she isn't a member of the Priory I don't know. I wish she was, then none of this would have happened."

Atin thought a moment, his deep brown eyes thoughtful. "We are in over our heads here. Damn. I better get back to Jay. I think he's about to have hysterics again. I think he's basically a good kid, but something has him terrified."

Ben looked guilty. "We aren't exactly reassuring him either. I wish we could get some answers, I wish Greg could have found Ms. Bonesteel last night."

"If he was here do you think he would have stood down on the execution order? Did I hear Red Dog ask for Jay?"

Ben sighed. "That's right; he wanted to take Jay with him and to see Vera."

"Damn," Atin muttered softly. "Can you send someone...who can be gentle...to help me with Jay?" It was obvious he didn't trust most of the security team to be restrained with a young psychic mage suspected of necromancy and blood magic.

Before Ben could respond Greg came stumping up the stairs to join them. "Can't stand the Priory. They make my teeth itch."

Ben simply nodded. "All of them gone?"

"Yes" Greg grimaced, "but there was a lot of grumbling. I think they're going to be back. I have a feeling Red Dog will be on his cell the second he's past the farm's gates. Ben, why the hell aren't we pulling out of here?"

Ben rubbed his face. Greg had been questioning him ever since he was put in charge. "I need Cheryl but can you send the rest of your team around outside to patrol. I'll be sending you, Lin Yao and Miriam with the younger kids back to Hawaii."

He looked pleased. "Zip coming with us?"

Ben shook his head. "Mike needs both him and Jay to save Vera. I can't send away her only hope if she is a Guardian."

"What the hell does it matter?" Greg scowled; not hiding the fact that he thought Ben was a near idiot. "The kid can take her place, she's expendable. We shouldn't be jeopardizing Zip and Mike over a mage."

Ben glared, angry with Greg's callousness. "Are you willing to risk an inter-Order war? The Priory just threatened us if she dies."

The security lead snorted. "Probably just another one of their mind fuck jokes. Seriously Ben, let the kid say goodbye and have Mike load up her IV with morphine and let's get out of here. This place is not defensible."

Ben decided he had enough. Atin had the experience; compassion and unbiased opinion that was needed to take care of the situation here. Atin was far better qualified than he was. He had the feeling that the lead position got fobbed off on him because Mistress Tudor knew that the situation would only get worse if Greg was in charge. Greg was more senior than Atin in the chain of command, but since he was leaving to transport their new members; Ben was going to ask her to put Atin in charge. "I need to call the Mistress," he said curtly in response to Greg. "Send Cheryl to help Atin."

Joe was surprised when Spencer radioed him early that morning. The sheriff's mother had called him and requested that Joe stop by her place as quickly as possible. Nora Bonesteel wished to speak to him.

When Joe pulled the squad car into Mrs. Arrowood's laneway, Nora was already waiting at the door and walked out to the car before he even stopped. Joe hopped out to open the passenger door for her.

"We need to get to Vera's farm," said Nora. There was a note of worry in the old psychic's voice Joe had never heard before. "Jane will follow us while I explain what is happening along the way."

Before yesterday Joe would have thought he was catering to a senile old woman but recent events had conspired to show him that the supernatural was all too real. He was completely willing to believe all the strange stories about the old woman's abilities. Joe asked anxiously, "Did Sam - did he die last night?" The last time Joe had seen Sam he was sure he wouldn't survive. In fact he had an argument with Vera in the cave telling her it would be a mercy to let him go. Vera had disagreed vehemently.

"Everyone made it through. Sam is fine. There were a group of Hunters at the farm last night. They have a healer and Sam is completely healed, in body at least."

Joe looked at her skeptically, "A healer? I was sure he wouldn't pull through, why the hurry then?"

"It's Vera I fear for," she replied.

Joe sucked in a breath, and concentrated on driving for a moment. "That demon got her, didn't it?"

"Yes, Joe, it did," said Nora her voice tight with emotion, "she's in a bad way. That group of Hunters almost killed the Kestersons last night."

Joe's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Is that the same group that kidnapped Millie and Fawn? Spencer called in the FBI and the agent threatened him!"

"The same group, but Fawn and Millie weren't kidnapped, they went willingly."

"That's what Spencer said. Are you sure? They didn't do some mind manipulation on them?" Joe couldn't believe he was actually asking the question.

"No. It will be for the best for both of them."

Joe pounded the steering wheel in frustration. "Then what do they want? They got Millie and Fawn. Why kill the Kestersons?"

"The Kestersons are still alive, Joe. They thought Vera was controlling the demons and that she was behind the killings."

Joe was speechless and then felt guilty; after all he also had suspected Vera and Dean of being behind the murders. They reached the farm and he pulled in behind the assortment of vehicles. As he got out he noted a van stuck in the middle of a field, fences were broken, horses and goats were running loose. "What happened here?"

"Long story Joe. These Hunters were here looking for the Kestersons and Winchesters last night. Vera knew they might kill her so she drove through the fences to a sacred place out back of the farm to do a ritual to drive the unclean presence out of Sam."

"Were they going to kill the Winchesters too?"

"No, they thought the Winchesters were victims of Vera as well."

Joe shook his head. He waited for Jane to join them before they all walked up to the front door together.

Nora put a hand on Joe's arm restraining him gently. "Joe, this is a very powerful and a very large group of Hunters, an entire Order of them. They outnumber us and they are very confused and don't know nearly as much as they think they do. They can be allies, so don't do anything that will rile them up. We need them. Without them, Vera will die."

Joe felt a slow burn of anger, "They have the FBI in their pocket. There isn't much I can do."

"That's why we have to be careful. They can take Jay, Sam and Dean away and let Vera die. Understand?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied and knocked loudly on the door.

Pascal looked over at Billy Ray who had asked him to help clean up the front entranceway. He along with the others that arrived earlier looked like the only ones who actually got some sleep last night. The back up security team, Ginger, Hiro and Alonzo had arrived earlier that morning. Most of the Comacines who were here last night had gratefully dispersed to the many bedrooms, couches and lawn chairs for a little sleep.

Pascal was supposed to be resting but he was still on edge, things were too uncertain. The Order was still in grave danger. He saw the threat of war with the Priory in his visions but Ben seemed to think he was under the influence of Ravenmocker. At least Ben recognized very quickly that he was out of his depth here, and requested that Atin take over the lead. Atin was a seasoned field veteran while Ben usually worked with Mike in the medical facilities back in Hawaii. They were jumping over Greg in the chain of command, but Greg's hatred of magic would make him a poor choice in the situation and he was shipping out in a few hours anyways.

There was a loud knock at the door and Billy Ray looked to Pascal. Pascal hesitated then went to answer. He opened the door and was surprised to see the elderly woman from his vision, Nora Bonesteel, standing there in a gray, linen dress. She was accompanied by a frowning woman in her sixties and a deputy sheriff, the name badge read LeDonne.

Nora seemed to recognize him. "I'm glad that everyone made it through the night." She took a closer look at Pascal and smiled, "If everyone would have paid you more mind it would have saved a whole load of pain and grief for everyone." She held out her arms.

Even though they weren't related in this lifetime, Pascal felt drawn to the elderly woman. He stepped into her embrace and gave her the French greeting of a kiss on each cheek. "Ma tante Nora! What an honor, please come in."

Joe looked at the young man with curly dark brown hair and a black eye intensely; he openly wore a .9 mm at his waist. He also recognized the French-Canadian accent; he had just called Miss Bonesteel his "auntie."

Jane Arrowood looked wide-eyed from Nora to the young man. She was used to odd things happening around Nora, she glared at Pascal. "Young man, I want to know who you are and what you're doing here. This farm's livestock is wandering all over this half of the county."

"My name is Pascal Comeau, the man in charge is Atin Lono, please come in, we were just cleaning up." Pascal stepped aside to let them in. Billy Ray barely glanced at them before returning to picking up the discarded medical equipment, gauze and bandages. Joe cursed. It looked like a crime scene that had been hastily cleaned up. There were dark stains on the floor and smudges of what looked like blood on the walls.

Jane gasped at the sight and Nora told her, "Calm down Jane. No one died."

Pascal led the way down the hall, "Please have a seat in the living room, sorry about the mess. I'll get the Commander. Can I get you anything from the kitchen?"

Nora replied, "Some water will be fine, I think we have a lot to speak about."

A few minutes later Atin and Ben entered the living room to speak to the senior Guardian, Pascal went to get glasses of water for everyone.

Atin looked at the two women, guessing which one was Nora by her advanced age. "Good morning ladies," He and Ben crossed to shake Nora's hand. "You must be Ms. Bonesteel, I'm grateful you came, we've been looking forward to speaking with you."

Nora nodded, "This is Mrs. Arrowood, the sheriff's mother." Jane didn't hold out her hand, she glared at him. Atin bowed slightly. "Deputy Sheriff Joe LeDonne." Joe nodded to the strangers. Ben and Atin introduced themselves.

"You have many questions," Nora continued as Atin they all took seats.

Atin looked down for a moment, "Yes, we do. Our main concern is about Vera Kesterson."

"Vera Kesterson is a Guardian. Her family has lived in these hills for a long time."

Atin took a deep breath. "We weren't sure; she wasn't born in this area. We know most Guardian Lines are tied to one location."

Nora was quite firm, "Her daddy moved away before she was born." She pinned first Ben then Atin with a stern look. "A lot of trouble could have been avoided if you had listened to your Seer."

Ben started to crumble under the guilt and the accusing looks from the two women and man, "Ah, we weren't sure about...if he was being manipulated."

Pascal picked that moment to walk in with a tray of water glasses. He knew he had been the topic of conversation when everyone stopped talking. He placed the tray on the coffee table and beat a hasty retreat to continue helping Billy Ray clean up the front hall.

Nora took a sip of water then asked, "Did you have any other questions?"

"We seem to have made a lot of mistakes. Could you give us advice on what needs to be done to make up for it? Have you met Sam and Dean Winchester?" Atin was still trying to figure out what their connection to everything was.

"I met Dean, Sam and Vera last week," Nora began, her bright eyes not missing a thing, "I revealed to Vera that she and her nephew Jay were Called to be Guardians and the beginning of a new Line. Dean decided to establish his Hunt base here. Vera was injured and I approved Dean taking on the lead."

Atin was thoughtful for a moment. "So Dean is in control of this region? This is a surprise. We've never known the Winchesters to stay in one place before."

Jane nodded; "Spencer deputized Dean the other day."

Ben nodded, "We knew that..." He looked imploringly at Nora. "What do we need to do now?"

For the first time Nora looked rattled, "For starters stop badgering that poor boy Jay and heal his aunt."

"Certainly, both of them are asleep right now and we will certainly care for them until they've recovered from last night." Atin quickly agreed.

Nora pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes, "It's time to act like an Order that protects Hunters and Guardians. We lost one Guardian yesterday and you almost killed another."

Atin was stunned, "A Guardian died yesterday? Who?"

Jane replied for Nora and Joe who both looked grief stricken, "A wonderful man I've known for many years. His name was Rattler. He and Deputy Ayers were killed by one of those creatures."

Realization crossed Atin's face, he was horrified. "Pascal saw it."

Nora got herself under control, "There have been many deaths caused by these creatures. Rattler gave his life so another Hunter would begin." She glanced over at Joe who looked at her in shock. She hadn't told him.

"Another Hunter? You mean other than Sam and Dean?" Atin was reeling from all these revelations.

"Yes, Joe here joined Dean yesterday and he killed the first creature. The one you saw last night was the second one. Vera banished that one back to where it came from."

"What happened yesterday?" asked Atin weakly.

Joe answered, clearing his throat. "Dean, Jay, Vera, myself and the park ranger Clayt Stargill took part in a search and rescue operation yesterday in the storm trying to find Sam and the other girl that was taken, Kathy Wyler. Jay and Clayt brought back the girl and she's still in the hospital."

Ben shifted uncomfortably, he felt extremely guilty, "and then when we found Jay last night...and this morning..."

Nora got very stern, "See that you take care of the Guardians properly now."

"Yes ma'am," agreed Atin, "we will be sure to do that. We might need to move Vera to one of our facilities for more specialized care, but we will co-ordinate that with everyone else involved."

Nora nodded, "Just be sure you ask and not demand. Dean is still Hunt leader and is still finding his way in that role."

Atin blinked, trying to re-arrange his entire attitude, "Of course."

"What about Dean?" asked Joe "Is he in any shape to continue his duties as deputy?"

"Dean has some cracked ribs and a sprained ankle," replied Atin. "He'll be up and around soon enough. Our security staff would be glad to help the department until he is well enough to take over his duties again. I can send a few people down later today and the Sheriff can decide which ones would be best." Joe's face tightened and he nodded.

"I'd like to look in on the residents of this farm, and be there for when Dean and Sam wake up," Nora said, "those two will be pretty feisty and I want to be sure there are no more misunderstandings."

"I'll go and set things right in the kitchen," said Jane firmly, as if she didn't believe they were capable of it.

"I'll be back later to speak to Dean when he wakes up," said Joe getting up, it was time to go back on patrol and let Spencer know their newest deputy was injured and they'd be sleeping with the enemy for awhile.

Pascal came running into the living room, wild-eyed. "Commander, I just had another vision, the Knights are after the Stargills; they plan to kidnap Kayla and Kelly."


	20. Aftermath Part 2

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 19: Aftermath Part 2 **

**Summary:** The Comacines take over; Dean objects.

Nora wasn't surprised by Vera's condition, it was as bad as she foresaw. This Hunter group had brought in medical equipment from somewhere; Vera was on a hospital bed, an oxygen cannula in her nose, two IVs, one in each arm, tubes everywhere. Vera's face was barely recognizable; it was so bruised and swollen.

Most of the Comacines's security team had gone to save Kelly and Kayla from these Knights. Little Kayla was strong in the Sight, and her brother that was 'a'coming' next month was strong as well. They reasoned a young child with the Sight would be like a twig bent in their direction if they had him from birth. Nora had a vision of the kidnapping, but knew young Pascal needed the vision to redeem himself. She knew they would be rescued in time.

Nora had extracted promises from both Ben and Mike that they intended to heal Vera fully. Then she instructed them to allow the black cat to come to Vera. She explained they were more than pets; they help and protect their humans. They will help them heal faster. She could see the disbelief in both the men's eyes. Mike scoffed but Ben looked fearful.

"Both Dean and Sam have cats too. Familiars she called them," she said patiently.

"Well, that certainly explains a few things. We thought they were being controlled as well," said Ben doubtfully.

Shade flowed past Ben's legs startling him, which was likely her intention, and leapt onto the hospital bed. She weaved her way through all the tubes to find a place to settle, her eyes on Vera's face, mewling softly.

Mike regarded Shade with disgust. "I'm worried about infection. Cat's claws are bad for that."

Shade gave him a long and evil hiss. Ben edged away from the angry cat, he had never developed a fondness for the animals and he was highly allergic to them. "I don't think it's Vera you need to worry about."

"If you would have listened to your own Seer much of this could have been avoided," admonished Nora.

Mike was irritable; this was his territory and he certainly didn't want to have to share the space with a strange bob-tailed cat that looked ready to claw his eyes out. "We were getting strange and conflicting information. The report on this incident will be exhaustive so we don't make the same mistakes again." He replied defensively, but oddly respectful at the same time, acknowledging the truth of her statement.

"You should have known to wait. You almost destroyed a great deal," Nora's throat felt tight and dry, she swallowed painfully.

Mike thought back to the chaos of the previous evening, his sole concern had been Sam and Dean, "Sam was missing, deaths were happening, I did what I thought was best with the information I had at the time."

"But you should have known how important it was to be right about what you were doing." Nora admonished, "If you had killed two new Guardians would you still be saying the same thing?"

Mike felt shamed by her words, was she an empath as well? She really knew how to make you squirm. He thought Ben was a pro at making him feel guilty. "I didn't have much time to make decisions. Considering the same circumstances, I imagine I would do almost the same things, but I should have taken the visions into consideration."

"Yes, you should have. Folks are Sighted for a reason." Nora's keen eyes seemed to flay him. "Stay with your healing, you shouldn't try to do anything else. You don't need to do any more; your gifts are too strong for you to stand sometimes. Don't let them carry you away again."

The old woman was right; he never should have taken on the command role. He was never trained for that. "Yes ma'am, play to my strengths and right now I need to continue with healing my patient."

"I'll be by to check on both of you later. Take care of yourself or you'll be of no use to anyone." She could plainly see the exhaustion in his eyes, he may be healing Vera reluctantly up until now but he was not holding it back either, he was letting himself get too run down. "Get someone to feed you."

Mike nodded stiffly. He just wanted her to leave. He busied himself re-checking Vera's vitals while trying to avoid touching the hissing cat. He watched Ben and Nora from the corner of his eye.

"Would you like to look in on Jay and the Winchesters now?" asked Ben feeling the disapproval still radiating from Nora. He had to thicken his shields in self-defense.

Nora nodded, "I think that would be best." She gave Mike another stern look and left with Ben.

Ben led Nora back out to the hallway, "We put them all in one room upstairs. We thought that would help keep all three of them calm."

Nora followed Ben up the stairs. Griffin zoomed up the stairs and was waiting impatiently at the top. "That one chose Dean," said Nora hiding her grin as Ben stiffened when the cat raced by him.

Griffin looked at Ben and gave a loud yowl. 

Ben stared at the cat for a moment, "I can see that." The moment Ben opened the bedroom door, Griffin shot in like a rocket. Before they could take a step in the room, he was on the bed sniffing Dean over carefully. Ben hovered in the doorway while Nora checked Jay first, then Sam and then sat in a chair next to Dean.

Ben's face got pink with embarrassment, "We've been a little hard on Jay, but he'll be okay."

"You certainly have," agreed Nora, "Jay will need your mind healing. I'll wait on Dean to wake up."

As Ben headed out, he heard Nora speak to the cat, "Here's your brush, now you come here and I'll check you for ticks." He hesitated worried what the cat would do to her and was surprised to hear him purr loudly. Ben shut the door quietly, shaking his head.

Mike, Greg, Ben and Atin were all sitting on the back porch, enjoying the late morning sunshine. The team Greg had led to rescue the Stargills had arrived just in time. The Wake County dispatcher and her daughter Kayla were both resting comfortably in the house. They were just waiting for transportation arrangements to be completed before sending Kelly, Clayt and Kayla to their Hawaiian facility. Mike had suggested their Atlanta facility since it was closer. Clayt said if they were going to have to stay away from home they'd rather go to Hawaii as a kind of second honeymoon.

The fields were still muddy, but the day was beautiful and mild, with horses frolicking in the fields beyond the vegetable and herb gardens. A black-and-white nanny goat was enjoying tomatoes. Atin had the vague feeling they should probably do something about that, but the fences were broken and they had no place to keep those damned eating machines. A few of the farm's cats, those not standing guard over the Kestersons and Winchesters were lazily sunning themselves around them.

The rest of the Comacine team was either sleeping or caring for the farms' occupants. Such ease of mind wasn't shared by the medical and security team leaders and their seconds.

"Y'know," Atin said conversationally "we almost executed a Guardian last night."

"Yup" Greg agreed amiably, "and almost sent a powerful psychic over the edge into going rogue."

"Not to mention bullying and basically beating an underage junior Guardian." Ben added.

"The very people we've sworn to protect." Mike mentioned in an off hand way. "Vera Kesterson probably wouldn't have been hurt if we hadn't distracted her. We've deprived Sam and Dean of their teacher for months."

"And we've totally blown the secrecy on two un-Founded Guardian lines. Jay, Kayla and the baby are now open season." Greg paused a moment at that thought, head tilted thoughtfully to one side.

"Yeah," Ben threw in, "this place could be invaded any time now. Some Orders wouldn't blink at threatening Vera's life to get Jay to cooperate."

Mike groaned. "You realize that because of us Wake County is losing one deputy, their only dispatcher and the head of their emergency team. Vera should be taking over as senior Guardian but can't for months now. Another Guardian and sheriff's deputy died yesterday, Nora Bonesteel is over 90, Dean is injured and no way in hell can Sam take over here. We've managed to leave this region totally unprotected."

As an after thought Atin added "Yes and we're indirectly responsible for destroying this farm. The locals have been bringing back horses and goats all day. They're not too happy. The amount of damages we're going to have to pay for this place and the other local farms are going to be enormous." He paused for a moment. "Damn we really screwed up. We're going to have to be creative in making up for it all."

Ben grunted. "The damned Priory of Nyx is sniffing around. They don't forcibly recruit, but you can never tell what the hell they're up to."

Greg looked gloomily at the bicolored animal feasting on the vegetable garden. "Know anything about herding goats?"

Dean woke up slowly, he kept his eyes closed sensing someone was laying next to him asleep and another nearby, awake. He took a careful inventory of his injuries first; one ankle was wrapped in an elastic bandage, very sore but not an agonizing pain, a sprain. He was all too familiar with the pain of broken ribs. All he was wearing was a pair of boxer shorts. Dean was curled on his side as he slid one hand under the pillow but came up empty. Bastards took his knife. He heard a loud meow from nearby and his eyes flew open. Nora sitting in a chair next to the bed knitting and the next thing he saw was a large fuzzy face dodging in to lick his nose.

"Ugh, Griff, stop it." He sat up carefully to avoid having his face washed by a cat with bad breath. What the hell had he been eating?

Sam was sleeping soundly next to him. A whole, undamaged and healthy looking Sam. Dean stared in amazement, picking up Sam's limp left hand. It looked like it had never been crushed to a pulpy mess. Star was sleeping on Sam's pillow on top of his head as usual, but she looked like she was breathing harshly.

Griffin started purring, butting his head against Dean's hand. Dean gave Griffin his morning ear scratches while he blinked groggily. Why was he so tired? Oh, right, they jabbed him with a needle. Now that he remembered, his hip throbbed.  
Dean kept up his attentions on Griffin's ears while he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, finally he mumbled, "How did you get here? Did they kidnap you too?

"No, they know better than to try that. I've had to set them right about a few things," said Nora calmly.

Dean looked back over at the miracle of Sam's restoration again and then back to Nora. "Are they aliens Nora? They did a lot of weird assed stuff last night."

"No, no, just a very powerful, very old and large Hunter group. They call themselves the Comacine Order."

The events of last night finally tumbled through Dean's mind. "Vera!" he started getting up, "They killed Vera last night."

"No, praise the Good Lord, she's still alive."

Dean remembered his sprained ankle when he tried to put his full weight on it. He quickly sat down on the bed. His stomach gave a flip reminding him that he had been drugged last night. He fought back the urge to vomit. Nora was saying something but he missed it, something about more had joined them.

"So what does this Order want with us? Why do they want to kidnap me and Sam and murder Vera?"

Nora looked very discouraged, "Lord, son. It's a mess. These Hunters thought that Vera was the one who summoned the unclean presence. They thought she was manipulating you and Sam. They just came to contact you, get you out of jail. They were not even sure Sam was alive. They were going to take Sam away because they thought he was out of control. They didn't realize Vera and I were already teaching him."

Dean tried to process her rush of words, damn this drug, it was still slowing down his thinking. Dean focused again on Vera's condition; he'd puzzle out what Nora was trying to tell him later. "What shape is Vera in? Did she get completely healed like Sam?"

Nora shook her head. "No, their healer almost burnt himself out on your brother. Vera is barely alive. They were going to let her die except their young Seer kept trying to convince them she was a Guardian. Finally they decided to keep her barely alive until they could confirm it. If it wasn't for that young Seer, Jay, and another boy here, she'd be dead."

Dean got up slower this time, carefully limping over to his duffle bag that was sitting on a chair. He rummaged around for a shirt and his jeans. His eyes fell on Jay lying very still on a mattress on the floor. "So what are you saying? They aren't going to heal her?"

He fished out a button up shirt and a clean pair of jeans. He put the shirt on carefully every movement hurt his ribs.

Nora was speaking again, "No, they'll heal her, but it will take a long while, their healer is all but exhausted. If it wasn't for Jay's special abilities and the help of another young man, Zipactonal, she wouldn't be alive."

Dean limped over to Jay. He still had mud in his hair and he had bruises all over every part of skin he could see. His neck was bruised from a chokehold and Dean could tell they had him in handcuffs at one point since his wrists were bandaged. He gently pulled down Jay's boxers to find not one, but two needle marks.

Dean gaze hardened seeing the evidence of this Order's brutality, "What did they do to Jay?"

Nora explained while Dean's expression got stormier.

The sooner these idiots left the better for all of them, "So how long will it take this healer to heal Vera?"

Nora bowed her head. "Two to three months."

"What!" Dean erupted, his voice getting harsh and louder, "You mean we have to put up with them for three months!" Jay whimpered in his sleep.

Nora looked grim, "If we want her to walk again."

Dean's voice was low and angry. "How about I cripple a few of them and see if he can hurry things up." He grabbed his jeans, sat in a chair and tried to relearn how to put them on without bending over too much and straining his ribs.

"Dean, they outnumber us," Nora tried to be the voice of reason. "They'll have no trouble with drugging you again."

"I'll pick them off one by one." He buttoned his jeans. "They can't keep me sedated for ever."

Nora was almost in tears, "Dean, no! Son, Vera won't make it without them. She's hurt bad, Dean, real bad."

Dean looked at Nora exasperated, trying to keep his voice down to not disturb the others. "How can you even believe anything they tell you? They've done nothing but lie to me all last night. They told me they were taking care of Vera and they weren't, they said she wasn't dying and she was. I don't trust them!"

"Dean, just talk with them. Two of those boys down there, the two youngest, did everything they could to keep her alive. One of the women and one of the boys went against orders to help keep her alive. The man who was the leader, Mike, he tried to rescue you and Sammy when you were little. He's been guilty, thought he should have helped you. Then his son died a few weeks after he saw you. Mike's son was just a baby at the time. He couldn't save his son, so last night he was going to save you and Sam even if you didn't need saving!"

"Yes, I'd like a few words with them." Dean looked around quickly but didn't see his guns or knives anywhere.

Nora nodded sadly. "Remember Dean, what they've done for Sam. He's healed physically, and his mind somewhat, too. They're not evil, just misguided."

Dean narrowed his eyes, "What did that blond guy do to Sammy's mind? I saw him touching him."

"That was Ben. He's a mind healer. Sammy won't have nightmares or flashbacks, but he still remembers what happened. He's not quite the same. Not Ben's doing, though. Sam would be worse than dead if it wasn't for him."

Dean alarmed, "Why? What's wrong now? I just got through two months of hell with him."

"Dean!" Nora admonished, "You remember how he was last night. No healer can put all of that right. He's going to recover in the end, though he'll just be more easily stressed for a while, more," she glanced at Jay, "possessive."

Dean felt like all the air was just sucked out of his lungs. He felt so defeated, all the implications just now sinking in. He almost lost both his brother and Vera last night. Sam had been tortured for hours. His mind was still fragile from dealing with his psychic powers and the double losses of his girlfriend and their father. Dean realized he wouldn't have Sam at his back for a long while. He sighed deeply, making him moan in pain and frustration.

Nora seemed to know what he was thinking. Dean didn't think he'd ever get used to being around psychics. "Son, Sammy and Vera and Jay are all still alive. Everyone will have a chance to be whole again. Give it time. These folk here are very guilty and want to make up for things. But their ways are not ours. Be careful. They think they know what is best for everyone."

Dean nodded. He could feel tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. "Yeah, and we saw how badly that went last night."

"Jane, Joe and I had a long talk with them this morning. They're very worried about Jay for some reason, that and Zipactonal. Be careful of that."

Dean wiped his eyes, "Huh? What is a zipagonal?"

Nora gave a short laugh, "That's his name, Zip. Short little fellow. He helped keep Vera alive last night. Helped Jay with something."

"That little guy that tackled Jay last night and put him in a chokehold? Huh. Okay, don't worry, I don't trust any of them, consider them watched carefully."

"Good. They are like a doubled-edged knife. They can cut both ways. Manage 'em right and they can be a lot of help, but careful, always careful." Nora warned.  
"Do you think they'll let me see Vera?" Dean inquired.

"Ask. But first, get some breakfast. Vera's not going anywhere. Jane is down in the kitchen, taking charge of things."

Dean sniffed and nodded. "Yes ma'am." He gave her a jaunty salute and went to the bathroom to wash his face and take care of business.Dean hobbled down the stairs; he saw Clayt Stargill talking to Joe LeDonne. They both looked relieved to see him. "Dean, it's good to see you up and around," said Clayt. Dean looked around but they were alone for the moment. 

"Clayt, Joe, it's good to see you too, but why are you here?"

Clayt gave a grim smile, "My family is in danger, another Order calling themselves the Knights tried to kidnap Kelly and Kayla this morning. Joe was able to give us some warning and he and half the Comacines came to rescue us."

Dean's mouth fell open, "There is another Order?" He got indignant, "What is with these people?"

Clayt nodded, "As we saw this morning, there are some pretty zealous Orders out there who would stop at nothing to get what they want." 

Joe could tell from Dean's expression what he was thinking; he had thought the same thing earlier when he saw the mess the farm was in. "I know Dean, hard to believe there are worse Orders than the Comacines. According to them this isn't an example of how they usually operate."

Dean remained unconvinced. "I'll reserve judgment on that."

"They are shipping us out to their healing and training center in Hawaii in about 30 minutes. I guess Kelly and I will get a second honeymoon," said Clayt with a wry grin.

Dean looked at him in concern; obviously Clayt was making the best of an impossible situation. "How long are you going to be there?"

Clayt tilted his head and gave Dean a lopsided grin, "until the end of December they say, depending on how things go at this annual convention these Orders have. It sounds very political, Atin explained a bit to me and told me he was going to speak to you later."

Clayt said he needed to check on Kayla and Kelly and said his goodbyes.

Joe looked at Dean in concern. He had obviously been drugged and was in pain. "Head to the kitchen, you look like you need some coffee. Mrs. Arrowood is there. I need to go back on patrol." The deputy looked haggard and exhausted.

Dean grimaced, "A beer would be better, but I guess that'll have to do."

He limped to the kitchen and smiled at Mrs. Arrowood, glad to see her. Spencer had introduced his mother to him after they released him from custody. Griffin stayed by his side like he was glued there. The short blond man with the receding hair line, who Nora said was Ben, was already in the kitchen, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

Dean eased himself onto one of the stools at the countertop, holding his aching ribs, ignoring Ben. There was another young man, average height with brown, curly hair at the stove cooking eggs, and he, like Ben, was openly armed. "Good morning Mrs. Arrowood, good to see you again."

"Glad to see you again too, Dean. Now you don't worry about a thing. Miss Bonesteel and I are going to set things right around here." She gave Ben a glare. "These flatlander folks have a lot to make up for."

The guy at the stove didn't seem to be bothered at all by Mrs. Arrowood's ordering him around. Pascal asked him what he took in his coffee and Dean replied straight from the pot. He set a steamy cup of black coffee in front of Dean and a plate of bacon, eggs and buttered toast. Griffin jumped onto the stool next to Dean trilling a greeting to Pascal. Dean looked at his familiar in surprise and then pushed his plate over to Griffin.

Mrs. Arrowood clucked disapprovingly, "You need to eat Dean."

Dean shook his head, "Just plain toast, my stomach hasn't settled yet after being drugged last night." He shot a look at Ben who looked a bit guilty. Griffin hopped onto the counter to devour the plate of bacon and eggs. Nora had given him a bath earlier and removed all the ticks. His coat was gleaming. The young cat looked at his human, and then had a glare of his own for Ben. The Comacine Empath-healer actually flinched.

Ben wasn't sure of what to say; they had made unforgivable mistakes. This Hunt leader had so many reasons to be angry with them. "Do you need something for pain? We have codeine, it's not too strong."

Dean snarled. "I've had enough of you people sedating me, I'll manage. How long are you planning to stay? Just how many are you here? Who's going to pay for all the groceries?"

Ben fidgeted nervously. "Ah, there are - will be 13, no 14, no 15 of us in the area right now. As for how long we stay, we need to talk about that, and we'll be glad to pay for the groceries."

Dean and Jane both gave him a hard stare. "So talk," Dean said shortly. "I'm listening."

Ben was glad they took all of Dean's weapons away. "Ah, well, I'll get to the point. Vera is badly injured, and it would probably kill her to even try moving her. We have a full medical team working on her, and to be honest, we're the only ones who can be sure she recovers." He managed to look even guiltier for a moment. "Jay also needs the attention of our medical team."

Dean continued glaring. "Yeah, Nora told me you were chasing him around last night and grilling him this morning."

"He'll be okay; just a little skittish for a bit." Ben looked away.

Dean groaned, but not from pain. "He won't be the only one. How long before Vera recovers? What exactly is wrong with her?"

The blond man looked nervous. "What do you remember from last night? About her injuries?"

Dean swallowed a huge lump in his throat; suddenly not sure he wanted to know. "She was dying. Told me she couldn't feel her legs and her chest hurt. She was afraid for Sam, Jay and me, afraid you were going to kill all of us."

His voice was gentle, but now he was looking Dean in the eye for the first time. "She couldn't move her legs because she has several crushed vertebrae, a broken hip and pelvis. Vera also has a lacerated liver and it hurt to breathe because her lungs were bruised and pierced by broken ribs."

Griffin stopped devouring eggs and put a paw on Dean's arm. Now it was Dean's turn to look away, not wanting this stranger to see his reaction. "Will she ever walk again?"

"Dean, she's going to be fine, she's not going to die. And yes, given enough time, she'll recover fully. Did you see Sam when you woke?"

"Yeah, he looks good." Dean was both almost giddy that Sam was healed and furious Vera was almost dead.

Ben's voice became strained. "That's because we have a healer here. He can do the same thing for her, but it's going to take a lot longer. As bad as Sam looked, his injuries were – simpler - than Vera's. It takes much longer to heal spinal and nerve injuries. The one good thing is that she suffered no head trauma, so that isn't an issue. She still has all of her mental functions intact and will not suffer any memory loss."

Dean rubbed a hand over his face. "So how long are we talking here?"

"With physical therapy included, about three months, maybe a little less."

Dean took a deep breath and winced in pain. "Three months. You planning to stay here for all that time?"

Ben looked relieved that Dean was taking all of this well so far. "We want to talk to you about it, but I don't think now is a good time. We need a little more time to see how quickly she's going to come along, and you need a clear head before making any decisions. Dean, there are still some things we don't understand and Nora wasn't sure. Could you tell us where the bloody crystals came from and what they are used for?"

Dean looked at him in surprise, and then realized Ben wasn't swearing he meant the quartz crystals with his and Sam's blood. He took another sip of coffee. "Those are mine," he said finally. "The blood is from me and Sam and I got the crystals from Light Feather."

Pascal turned white when he heard the name, dropping the plate of toast he was holding with a crash. Everyone looked at him in surprise, Ben looked worried. "Sorry," he apologized running to get a broom and dustpan.

Dean continued sipping his coffee and explained the situation in Chattanooga and how they used the crystals.

Pascal returned, he still looked shaky and swept up the mess. Jane put another couple slices of bread in the toaster and refilled Dean's cup. Ben was rubbing his hand nervously over his balding head.

"What do you know about the bones that Jay took in Chattanooga?" Ben asked weakly, suspecting he already knew.

Dean shrugged, "Gave 'em to Light Feather, he said he'd bury them properly so they wouldn't have any more supernatural trouble. Although," Dean had some time to think last night. "Who knows for sure what he did with them. Jay got arrested and I'm suspecting Light Feather was the one who gave the anonymous tip. I don't know what is up with that."

There was an uncomfortable silence until another man came into the room. It was the Native American guy who'd been healing Sam last night. Dean couldn't remember his name. He stopped and stared at Griffin, who was on the counter finishing off Dean's eggs. He glared at Pascal "What's that cat doing on the counter?"

Dean didn't like this guy's attitude and he was getting the feeling that Pascal was in the dog house for some reason. "Eating, what does it look like?"

He was taken aback. "Hello Dean; how are you feeling?" Dean noticed that Pascal got busy washing the dishes, obviously trying to avoid the two other men.

"I've been better," Dean said, flat and almost deadly. "Who the hell are you?"

This guy was obviously confused by his reception. Dean didn't like his condescending tone. "I'm Mike; I'm the one who healed Sam last night. I'm working on Vera right now."

Dean gave him a hostile stare. Ben shifted uncomfortably. "Right, I remember you working on Sam and ignoring Vera."

"We weren't sure about Vera," Mike tried to explain, still clearly confused, "and I was worried about Sam's potential psychological trauma due to his injuries."  
"Uh huh." Dean wasn't convinced. He was glad Sammy was totally healed, but this guy could have let Sam heal some of his injuries on his own to be sure Vera didn't die.

Ben was surprised that Mike actually looked guilty. It was probably as close as his brother would get to apologizing. "You need to eat at least a little. Vera is going to be just fine; it's just going to take a while."

Dean felt so overwhelmed; his first home since Kansas being invaded, Sam and Vera almost dying, Jay's injuries and obvious mental trauma, and he was in pain. He closed his eyes and let his face fall into his hands. Dean wished Vera was healed too, so he could throw all of their asses out.

Mike's voice was concerned, despite Dean's rudeness. "Are you okay? Do you need to lie down?"

"Just, leave me alone." He could feel tears prickling. Damn these drugs, he felt like crying and killing them all at the same time. He wondered briefly if this was what PMS felt like.

Dean could hear stools being pushed out. "Alright, everyone out of the kitchen," Ben called, and Dean could hear several people leaving the kitchen.  
"Y'all can go, I'm staying." Jane patted Dean's shoulder. He appreciated the gesture and he could hear the steel in her voice. The sheriff's mother was offering sympathy, not pity. 

"Now Dean, honey, it's going to be all right." Jane's tone made it clear that she was going to be sure everything worked out. Dean lifted his head. The accent up here was almost musical. He thought he would never get tired of hearing it. Dean no longer associated it with back country hicks, but with kindness, acceptance and unspoken understanding. "Do you want me to get Nora? I can sit with Sam and Jay for a spell." Griffin head butted Dean, mewling softly while rubbing against his shoulder.

Dean shook his head, "I almost lost my family last night, Sam and Vera. Vera's in no shape to train Sam. He's on the edge of loosing it, and now Jay, it sounds like he's in no better shape. I don't know what to do."

The older blond woman smiled. "I don't know either honey. I think you should work these flatlanders as hard as you can to make up for it. Have you had a look at Jay yourself?"

"Yeah, he was in our room. He looked pretty beat up. Physically I guess he'll be fine in a week or so, but they did a lot of messing with his mind."

"Humph!" was Jane's angry opinion. "Did they tell you what they did to him?"

"No but I imagine they were withholding healing Vera to get him to 'talk'."

Jane's eyes narrowed and mouth thinned. "If it wasn't for this healing, I'd have Spencer run them out of town!"

"Yeah, I'd arrest them myself." Dean gave a bitter laugh. "I still can't believe I'm a deputy. Do you know how many laws I've broken?"

"I don't think anybody cares about that up here. Have you ever hurt anyone who didn't do anything wrong?"

Dean shrugged. "No, it wasn't me that was killing people in St Louis. That was a shapeshifter with my face." Jane suddenly looked like she didn't want to know. Dean looked at her, "Anyway, I guess I don't deserve an easy life. Spencer is a lucky man to have you."

Jane smiled, an honest smile, and her face seemed to hold more understanding than Dean thought possible. "Oh, now, I don't know about you not deserving an easy life. Looks like things are going to be turning sunny side up for you after all this settles. We're all hoping you and Sam stay."

Dean looked down while Griffin rubbed and purred against his chest and arms. "I told Vera I would, in a way I adopted Jay last night."

"Well now, that will please a lot of folks. Most new folks that come up here look down on us. You and Sammy never did, you helped folks out. The Rice's, in the library, being a deputy, saving poor little Kathy Wyler. You've done a lot of good up here already. Imagine a lot of folks outside these mountains don't understand. We don't mind outsiders that come here and respect our ways. Look at the folks who live here at this farm."

Dean didn't know what to say, he wasn't used to praise. "How is Kathy doing?" He asked, trying to shift her attention away from him.

"As well as can be expected. She's alive, she'll heal. Everybody up here will try to help her."

Dean got up. "That's good; I'm going to see if Sam and Jay are awake yet and check on Vera."

Jane raised a hand to stop him. "Dean, before you go, you've come home to where you belong. Understand?

Dean searched her face, he'd never been attached to places before, "Well, the people make the place. Thanks for breakfast Mrs. Arrowood."

Hradani Tudor bowed her head for a moment after ringing off with Ben. The situation with the Winchester contact team in the Colonies continued to be volatile. The Knights were threatening to declare war on the Comacine Order unless Jay Kesterson was turned over to them, making a kinship claim to the boy. They steadfastly refused to believe that Vera Kesterson would survive her injuries, accusing them of just barely keeping her alive to hold onto possession of the young booster and Sam Winchester, who according to reports was her student.

Rad was frustrated; Jay and Sam were not Comacines. They would not recruit either of the young men. No one had recognized Sam or Jay as much as they all hoped they were Comacines. None of the other Orders, with the exception of the Priory, believed them when they said all of their members chose to be Comacines before they were ever born. That is why they passed up some strong psychics and took others that barely had any ability. Kayla Stargill was a tempting prize to other Orders, but the Comacines would not touch her. The Comacines recognized the Winchesters, Stargills and Kestersons as Lines, and treated them as such, even though they had not been approved by the Conclave. Hradani was going to consult the Order's legal experts on this. She planned on throwing the whole situation into the lap of the Conclave, but until then she had to do damage control.

First thing was to contact Will Woodfin. The Comacines and the Priory of Nyx had a strange relationship. The Priory never forcibly recruited members either, and they always turned over underage Comacines to them. They were even known to stage independent raids to rescue kidnapped Comacines. The Priory always sent them a bill afterwards, but it was always modest and the Order paid it gladly. However, the Comacines were also the favorite subjects of some of their most outrageous pranks.

Taking a deep breath and counting to ten before she even dialed the number, Hradani made the call. The phone picked up halfway through the first ring.

"Hello, Will? It's Hradani Tutor calling."

"Rad! Darling!" She winced, it sounded as if the head of the Priory was already having fun at her expense. "It's been too long. Hear some of your kids have invaded east Tennessee."

She suppressed a sigh. She hated it when he played the fool. "You haven't just heard, your people were there, threatening my people. I have to wonder if this is another one of your jokes.

Will's voice became cold. "No, no joke. The Kestersons have ties to the Priory that they are not even aware of."

Hradani decided to try to play his game. "I see; this does complicate things then doesn't it?"

"I guess you could say so." He responded pleasantly, as if there wasn't a threat of a very expensive war looming between their Orders.

"The original mission was to contact the Winchesters and assist them in establishing a Hunt base and help Sam Winchester who may be going rogue. We had no idea the Kestersons were involved going in." But once they did know, she thought, a request had been put in to all the Lines and Orders for information. The Priory disclaimed any knowledge of Vera Kesterson. Now they were threatening war over her. It was very suspicious.

She could almost hear him grin. "That's all fine and good, but this little mercy mission of yours seems to have turned into a bit of a cluster. If Sam is Vera's student, you really don't want to take him or his brother. It's also interesting how some of your more anti-magic high ranking members were on that team"

"The high ranking members you were referring to are leaving today." Hradani was going to have a long talk with Greg Timmons very soon about his attitude. "However that does leave us short some security members, and as you are well aware Jay is a booster."

"I suspected he was; seems to take after Vera."

Now the tricky part came along. The Order of the Comacines had a debt they needed to repay to the Kestersons and Winchesters. "We would like to bring him, Vera and the Winchesters to Hawaii for their healing and protection."

"And the farm?"

She couldn't believe with everything else happening he was worried about gardens and livestock. "We've claimed the territory, a reserve unit will remain."

"What is wrong with Vera that she can't protect herself? I have a good idea of what she is capable of. Better than you do, I imagine."

The situation here was potentially deadly and Will's voice held a mocking lilt. "She needs healing; she was critically injured during the exorcism last night. It crushed part of her spine and she has extensive internal injuries."

Hradani tried to keep from fidgeting at Will's long silence. She wished she could see him, try to gauge his reaction to this. To silence the head of the Priory was almost unheard of. "Ben was accusing her of necromancy and said she may have been the one to summon it." Dear God, what was the relationship between Will Woodfin and Vera Kesterson? His voice actually seemed tight, like he was having trouble controlling something; grief, anger, or fear? Or maybe it was all of them.

She decided to try for a comforting tone. "Mike did what he could for her Will, but he almost burnt himself out last night on Sam Winchester who was also dying."

Will's voice was soft, but cool. "I'm just wondering how she was injured during an exorcism."

She didn't even want to go into that part of the situation, so she chose to ignore his comment. "What I'm saying is that we are doing all we can to save her, but we can not be held responsible if she doesn't make it."

"Let's see. Mike Jensen is there, and there is at least one booster there. I think you can keep her alive just fine."

"If both healer and booster were at full strength, both are exhausted and nearly drained."

Will's voice held a touch of heat. "I'm sure it's not your fault that Jay has been beat to hell?"

She felt herself go stiff at his implications while she wondered at the familiarity with which he used when saying Jay's name. Could the boy actually be Will Woodfin and Vera Kesterson's son, who they fostered out with her brother to conceal him? "We are not in the habit of abusing children."

"Then why has he been injured?" His voice was hard. Will never showed this much true emotion. "Red Dog saw bruises on his neck and wrists. Those are restraint marks. You take care of rogue psychics too often to hurt a kid like that unless it was intentional."

"As I understand it, Jay has a strange trick of becoming psychically invisible. He evaded capture by the senior members of our team. An inexperienced and underage team member restrained him while Jay resisted."

There was another chilling silence. "So you allowed an underage member to take care of him? Rad..."

"As I said he was invisible and resisted capture."

"Why in the hell we're you trying to capture him in the first place? Is he one of yours?"

Hradani drummed her fingers on her desk, wishing again that Jay Kesterson was. "No, he is not one of ours. The team had concerns and wanted to question him."

"'Concerns'" he snorted. "I heard Ben trotted out some load of crap about Vera being a necromancer and summoning demons. When he tried to give alternate - and innocent - explanations for some of your 'evidence' he was thrown out."

Another subject she was not going to address directly, she had already been confirmed as a Guardian to her Order's satisfaction. "I understand Vera is a particular friend of the Priory, you have my word that she will be kept alive to best of my team's abilities. That is all I can promise you."

Another cold silence, as if he were trying to control some sort of deep emotions. "If she dies, I want Jay handed over to us immediately, and Vera's body to be turned over to us as well for proper burial rites. Sam and Dean Winchester must not be detained and we demand that we be allowed contact with them. That is the only way we won't declare war if she dies."

Proper burial rites? She wondered at that. Why was he so concerned about disposal of her body? "The Knights have made a prior claim of kinship; Jennifer Greer is a third cousin."

"I don't care. They will not have him."

"If were up to me I wouldn't hand him over to them either. The Conclave will decide."

Will's voice became mocking again. "Sounds like Vera needs to live or you'll be fighting a war on two fronts. You really managed to step in it, didn't you? In the meantime, I want welfare visits."

She didn't want to allow the Priory of Nyx into a territory they had claimed. It would make the Comacines appear weak, but if it would put off a war with the Priory until the next Conclave in December, she would agree to it. "Granted; anything else?"

"Yes." Another silence, she wondered what his erratic but brilliant mind was coming up with next.

"I want to personally kick Jensen's ass." Amazing how the man could shift so much; he sounded positively gleeful. Mike and Will had detested each other from the moment they first met.

He knew she wouldn't agree to let him thrash their medical head. Hradani decided to play along with him. "For what reason?"

"He was on lead until Vera was injured. Mike's name is written all over this cluster."

"Well if you are looking to lay the blame, then you are welcome to come to England and as you say "kick my ass" since I put him in charge."

The damned man sighed dramatically. "Very tempting, but I have a road trip to make. Rain check?"

Hradani smiled; at least she knew that the head of the Priory had a weak spot. "I'll see you at the Conclave, sweetheart."

Will's voice dropped to a whisper. "Rad we have to be careful; I am a married man, after all."

She laughed outright; everyone knew how devoted Will was to his wife, even after more than twenty years and five children. "Say hello to Yolanda for me."

"I'm sure we will be speaking soon. What's Atin's number?"

After she hung up, Hradani wondered about Will's true motivation. After over two thousand years, no one had ever discovered the Priory of Nyx's agenda. Some thought they had none, but Hradani didn't think so. It was just a matter of looking at their patterns. Someone would reason it out eventually.

In the meantime, she wasn't surprised to hear the next day that Jennifer Greer had died of a copperhead snake bite while 'hiking' along a stream close to the Kesterson property.

When Dean managed to limp up to the second floor he decided the grand staircase was going to be a bitch for the next few days. When he got to his and Sam's bedroom he spoke quietly to Nora for a moment. Jay was showing signs of maybe waking up soon, but Sam was still out. With a flinch at the thought, he steeled himself and limp-hopped back down the stairs. There were various people of wildly different ethnic backgrounds all over the house. Most of them stopped to greet Dean and introduce themselves, but Dean remained fairly surly with all of them and didn't bother to remember names. The only one who seemed to take offence was an Asian chick with tie-dyed hair. How she managed to look down her nose at him when she was about a foot shorter than him was a mystery. Dean just ignored the bitch. He had more important things to worry about.

Dean was glad to spot Ben in the front hall. "Hey, Ben," he called to get his attention. "I want to see Vera."

Ben worried his lower lip with his teeth. "All right, but it's going to be very upsetting, understand?"

Dean frowned, after all the shit he'd been through, this guy thought seeing somebody injured would upset him. "I know, but I need to see her."

"Let's go, she's down the hall."

They had put Vera in the bedroom across the hallway from the library. Mike was leaning over a hospital bed and was talking softly to a 12-year-old girl who was wearing designer clothing that was a bit too large for her. Mike was telling the little girl that she couldn't heal unless she knew basic anatomy. Dean wondered why he was going over all this with a child. At least Mike's face showed a great deal of concern for Vera's condition now. The healer looked up as Dean and Ben entered.

Dean got a glance of Vera, and his stomach flipped. She did look bad. He looked at Mike with something approaching respect. They had turned the small bedroom into a state of the art ICU; they were sparing no expense now, no matter what the Comacines may or may not have done last night. "Can I have a minute alone with Vera?"

Mike frowned, his features crumpling slightly and Dean noticed the worry lines on his forehead; too many for a man his age. His expression was reflective though, not hostile. "I suppose so, but we'll be across the hall. Call if you think she needs us."

As Ben, Mike and the little girl were leaving the snobby Asian chick showed up. Dean was surprised to see her pout at Mike like a spoiled five-year-old. He heard her bitching about the living conditions on the farm and Mike was promising her a trip to Paris in an indulgent voice, sounding like a doting father. Dean shook his head.

He sat in a folding chair next to the bed, looking at Vera's unnaturally still and swollen body. Dean felt tears threatening for the third time today. He and Sam could communicate to each other a little through touch. Could he maybe talk to her that way? Vera said he was a little psychic. He tried to find a spot on her that didn't have a tube or a bruise or a bandage where he could touch undamaged skin. Dean finally found a clear spot on her upper arm.

"Hey sleeping beauty, I don't know if you can hear me but everything is going to be okay. Jay and Sam are fine thanks to you. Just, get better okay?" Shade chirped at him from beyond her hip, raising her head. Dean had seen her but thought the strange black cat was asleep. Vera's familiar carefully wove around Vera's body and the medical equipment to get to Dean. She rubbed against his hand, meowing softly at him. He felt a very slight response from Vera as the fingers on her right hand twitched as if she was trying to hold his hand.

Dean gently touched those fingers. "You did it Vera, the demons are gone. Everyone was saved. Just you get better now. I need you to keep Sam and Jay in line. So get some rest. That's an order." Vera's fingers twitched again. Dean couldn't help but smirk. "That's right; I'm still in charge until you get better. So you know what you gotta do." There was no response from her; Dean smiled "That's right, sleep and get better. Talk to you later."

They were all alive. That was enough for right now. Dean would wait for Sam and Jay to wake up and see what condition they were in. Then he'd consult the Art of War; Sun Tzu hadn't let him down yet.


	21. Waking

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 20: Waking**

**Summary:** Sam and Jay wake up, Dean surveys the damage.

Sam drifted back into consciousness slowly, free of pain. At first he didn't want to open his eyes, afraid of seeing the accusing stares of Jessica and whoever had died that night because of him. Eventually he gave in, realizing he couldn't put it off forever.

He was surprised to see he was in his room back on the farm, staring up at the shadow patterns on the ceiling that the trees outside the windows made. From the angle of the sun it must be early afternoon. Was he still alive? Sam touched his face, amazed to feel smooth skin, and then noticed that his left hand was whole. This couldn't be possible. He had to be dead. Then another thought chilled him. Was he a ghost? Was he 'walking' because of his guilt? "Oh, God," he prayed, "please let Dean find me and salt and burn my bones. Dear God, don't let me become one of the monsters we hunt. Please don't let anyone else die because of me. I'll gladly go to Hell, just don't let anyone else die." The past few days had confirmed Sam's wavering faith.

Sam felt something on the top of his head; he reached up, touching fur and almost cried. Star, was she dead, too? Trapped here with him because she was his familiar? He lifted the little white-and-grey kitten and placed her on his chest. She was still unconscious and limp, but breathing. After few shallow, jerky breaths Sam got the courage to look around him.

The furniture had been moved around the room a bit, but he was relieved to see Nora, sitting next to the bed. He was sure she could see and speak with him even if he were dead. She was smiling at him with tears on her cheeks, but she looked jubilant, not grieving.

"Nora." Sam breathed, begging for answers. Nora just smiled more widely and sobbed softly, trying to speak.

"Sammy, child, you're alive. Praise the Good Lord, you're alive."

Sam touched his chest, his cock and balls, too stunned to be embarrassed. A gentle stroke felt good; he was relieved. He carefully sat up and put Starlight back on his pillow. He doubled over on himself, crying as if his whole being was breaking. The entire bed shook as sobs ripped from his tall frame. He felt Nora wrap her arms around him in a comforting embrace, firm and strong for such an old woman.

Everything felt so intense. He could feel every thread in the sheet he was sitting on, he could feel the hairs touching his forehead. The soft linen of Nora's dress caressed his bare back and shoulders. The thing that felt best to Sam, though, was Nora's warm hand stroking his bare back and the gentle breeze coming in from the window on his chest. He could feel the life in Nora's hands, feel her relief and joy, her worries lifting from her, how deep and rich her inner life was, despite spending so much of her life in isolation in her mountain home. Sam could feel her love for this place, for this land. The wind blew, the leaves on the trees outside the window rustled, birds sang.

Sam felt as if his heart would burst and something was breaking inside of him. A hard veil of grief cracked, the walls he built around himself to lock away his abilities and his emotions were crumbling.

Suddenly Griffin was there, rubbing against the chest and shoulders, trilling, purring and pawing at the hands covering his face. He looked up at his brother's familiar, a moment of dread gripping him. Where was Dean?

"It's all right, Sammy. Dean is alive; everyone made it through the night. No one else died. Dean's slowed down a bit, but he's on his way." Before Sam could do more than straighten up Dean came limping into the room. Nora moved away from Sam and sat down again.

Dean limped into the room; between the drugs and the situation he'd been on edge all day. He wrapped his arm around his cracked ribs, trying to hold back sobs; he didn't want to upset his brother. Being told Sam was going to be okay and actually seeing him sitting up and being held by Nora were two very different things. Griffin had shot into the room before him and was trying to comfort Sam. He was rubbing all over Sam as if he was trying to stroke every square inch of him with his fur.

Sam looked up, hazel brown eyes wide in confusion. "Dean?" he asked, shaking slightly. The expression on Sam's face seemed desperate, and he reached a hand out to his brother.

Dean took his hand, shakily plastering on his trademark smirk. "Dude, welcome back to the land of the conscious; at least this time I didn't have to tie you up while you got over a psychic moment."

Memories flooded over from last night. Sam asking him to kill him, Sam wanted to leave him last night; he'd wanted to give up after everything. Suddenly he couldn't hold back his anger. "You little shit, how could you have asked me to kill you last night? How could you even think of leaving me? Especially now!"

Fresh tears over spilled Sam's eyes as Nora retreated, letting the brothers hash things out on their own. Sam's voice dropped to a trembling whisper. "Dean, I - I thought other people - Vera - are we really alive?"

Dean was trying and failing to reign in his anger. "Do I have to kick your stupid ass to convince you?"

Sam touched his face. It was obvious he still didn't really understand. "But - but - Dean, - how Dean?"

Dean sat on the bed next to Sam, groaning. "Watch the ribs, got broke again."

"You're hurt? What about Vera and Jay? Nora said they both lived?"

Dean looked away, upset, tired of trying to control his own wild and desperate emotions. "Do you really think even a demon can shut Vera up? It tossed her into the altar but she's going to be okay. She's downstairs playing Sleeping Beauty again. Jay's over there. I think he fell down every hill he could find; probably trying to impress you."

Sam flinched, ignoring his brothers' jokes. He could feel Dean's fear and anger as if he was touching him; he could tell Dean was being evasive. Sam gathered up his courage and asked, "How bad?"

Dean shook head. "Vera looks worse than she is. Jay's beat up pretty bad but nothing that won't heal in a week."

Sam crumpled in on himself, flooded with a bitter guilt. Ravenmocker said people would die or get hurt. "All of you were hurt because of me."

Sam could feel Dean's anger subside as he tried to comfort him. "Did Nora tell you how you got better so fast?"

Sam tried to sift through all of Dean's emotions; he couldn't understand how he was feeling him so strongly he replied disjointedly. "A healer - oh! That guy last night." Sam frowned in confusion; he remembered seeing that man before, but from where? "He said he was fast enough to save me this time, but - I know him from someplace. I can't –"

Dean nodded, "There is a group of Hunters that took over the farm. They have a healer, Sam I never saw anything like it. He just put his hands on you and you were healed. I swear I thought I was in the twilight zone again."

Sam was quiet for a long while processing his miraculous healing, the emotions slamming into him from Dean, his concern for Starlight and the mystery of where he saw this healer before. Nora packed up a sweater she was knitting and quietly left. "Native American dude, short hair?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," Dean nodded, "He seemed to know me, but I don't remember him before last night."

Sam's gaze became intense. "Is he still here?"

Dean snorted, then gripped his ribs and winced in pain. "Try to get rid of them. There must be 15 people downstairs, most of them from this Comacine Order. Clayt and his family are here because some other Order called the Knights tried to kidnap Kelly and Kayla this morning."

His brother looked at him blankly, like he didn't quite comprehend what he was saying. "I want to see Jay." Sam got up abruptly from the bed, put on some clothes and walked over to the corner where Jay lay unconscious.

Dean groaned, knowing his own reaction to seeing Jay. Sam could only be worse. "Dude", Dean warned, "he's in pretty rough shape, but nothing that won't heal."

Sam's expression was terrifyingly stiff as he gazed down a Jay for a long moment. Dean could feel Sam's mental shift and it wasn't good. He struggled to get to his feet and get to Sam; Dean had learned quickly the fastest way to calm Sam down was through touch. Dean limped the few steps to him and grabbed Sam's arm.

Dean could feel so many conflicting emotions in his brother; fear, outrage, deep affection, confusion, sexual attraction and an almost feral protectiveness. The last one was so intense it frightened him. Sam reached out one hand and ghosted it along one side of Jay's bruised and swollen face then ran his fingers gently through his short, dark hair. "Calm down Sam, losing it now will only hurt Jay and Star."

Sam's voice was soft and so low Dean had to strain to hear it, but was glad to feel him begin to get himself under a little more control. "I want to know what happened to Jay." Shit, Sam's emotions were going very cold, even if he was no longer in a rage. Dean swallowed, still gripping Sam's arm. "It was pretty rough last night; I know he fell a few times when we were out looking for you. We found Kathy first and he took her to the hospital while Vera, Joe and I kept looking for you. He might have fallen a few more times." Sam said nothing but stared at what were obviously handcuff injuries on his wrist. Sam's touched one gently with his finger tips, and Dean could feel his realizations that those had not come from falling down a hill.

"I want whoever did this, Dean. I want them!" Sam said venomously.

Dean took a deep breath; he had to get Sam to control himself. He continued to downplay the incident. "It was just a kid Sam, relax!"

Sam looked confused again. "A kid?"

"He doesn't look any older than 15 or so. I don't think he was supposed to be involved last night; he helped save Vera somehow."

Sam turned on him and looked angry for a moment because he was defending whoever had beaten Jay. Then Dean could see and feel Sam begin to crumble, his face going pale and a flare of emotional pain from him. "I don't understand Dean - I can't I just - I can't - everything, all at once, I can't..." The dresser began to shake ominously.

"Sammy! Oh shit, don't go Carrie on me." Dean tensed up, ready to throw himself onto Sam. Where was Nora?

Suddenly Sam's face went blank for a moment and then he calmed. He was still angry, upset and a little scared, but no longer on the edge of going rogue. Ben, Atin and Mike quickly appeared at the door.

"Hey Sam," Ben's voice was soft and reassuring as he entered the room. "We're glad to see you're awake."

Sam stared at him for a moment. "I remember you from last night. You..." Sam broke off, confused again.

"Made you feel better?" Ben supplied.

Sam looked relieved that Ben had explained it for him. "Yeah, uh, thanks."

Ben just smiled. "You are most welcome. Why don't you sit down? You've been through a lot."

Sam began to scowl again. "You hurt Jay."

Ben didn't deny it. "Yes, but we didn't understand that he was helping you and Dean. Some of his injuries were from helping the girl, but we hurt him too. We are going to take care of him until he's better."

Dean could still feel Sam's anger, but it was no longer a blind fury. Ben had done something to Sam and Dean watched him suspiciously. He wondered how they appeared so quickly. Now was not the time to confront Ben, not with Sam acting so oddly.

Sam continued to glare at Ben, glancing at Atin and Mike as if he was evaluating all of them. The three Comacines were calm, but Dean could tell they were ready to act if needed. Ben was almost serene, talking slowly and in simple sentences. Dean didn't get the feeling that Ben was talking down to him. It was more like he had a lot of respect for Sammy and knew he was having problems. He quickly introduced himself, Mike and Atin. 

Sam moved suddenly toward the bed and Dean, still gripping Sam's arm, took an involuntary step on his sprained ankle. He quickly released his hold on Sam's arm but he was off balance and tried to overcorrect. The movement caused Dean to gasp in pain and grab his ribs. His stomach spasmed and his vision began to grey out.

The next thing he knew Mike was helping him lie down while Sam hovered, eyes wide. Ben was reassuring Sam that Dean had just tried doing too much, too soon. Dean looked at Ben while shaking from pain and stress, "I'll take the codeine you offered." He had to get some control over the pain or he'd be no help to his team. Dean almost laughed through his pain; his team. He'd gone from being a wandering supernatural fighter to the head of a growing team of psychics and warriors, trying to get a secret society to leave a territory that now 'belonged' to him. Griffin broke off from grooming Star and began nuzzling his face, cheeping anxiously.

He saw Ben standing over him, looking upset. "I'll be right back."

Sam was looking twitchy again. "Dude, I'm sorry - your ribs..."

Atin put a hand on Sam's back, between his shoulder blades. "Calm down Sam, you've scared your brother and Hunt leader enough over the past few days. Don't let yourself feel guilty over it; he'd have had to go after the demons even if you weren't taken." Sam jerked like he'd been slapped. Dean was torn between feeling justified and mad that Atin was busting on Sammy.

The only problem was that Mike was still lingering over him and frowning. Suddenly Dean's ribs began to itch and burn like hell. Dean's fingers fumbled at the buttons on his shirt, what was happening to him?

Mike looked up to Atin. "Get Fawn to come up, would you?"

Dean moved irritably, trying to sit up to see what was going on with his ribs, the itching and burning sensation had stopped but he was still in a lot of pain. Mike put a hand on his chest holding him down and scowling at him. "Wait a bit. I'm working on you."

Dean looked at Mike confused, "What?" He could hear someone running up the stairs. The little girl Dean had seen with Mike earlier ran into the room, excited and her eyes glittering.

"I get to heal someone?!" she asked breathlessly. Ben was on her heels; he took in the situation, smiled and quietly went away, dragging Atin with him.

Mike smiled indulgently, the lines in his harsh face softening. "Yes, but you have to listen to me, okay? His ribs are cracked." He gently opened up Dean's unbuttoned shirt exposing his chest. "Dean, this is going to hurt a little."

Dean already was in too much pain to respond, he lay there taking shallow breaths. Mike took the girl's hands and placed them on his ribcage. He flinched at the slight pressure of her hands.

"Feel his ribs?" Mike instructed, "Do you feel those hot spots? Okay, that's where I want you to work."

Dean closed his eyes and groaned. He just wanted the pain to stop. Sam hovered behind Mike and the girl, watching, his eyes intent under his shaggy hair. "Just like on your brother's puppy," Mike encouraged.

Dean felt the itching and burning sensation again but slowly the pain receded until it was totally gone. He gasped in relief. He felt a bone deep exhaustion and he struggled to stay awake. Griffin was purring in his ear, a soothing sound.

"Good job Fawn!" Mike's voice was warm with approval and affection.

Dean found himself wondering at the guy. He was pretty nasty to Pascal downstairs, but now he sounded like the father of the year. "You did great! Didn't she, Dean?"

Dean decided that he'd fallen down another rabbit hole. He gave Fawn a surreal smile, "Just great." Dean barely got the words out before he slipped into a deep and exhausted sleep with the purrs of his familiar in his ear.

Sam could see the healing power Mike and Fawn had used on Dean, but why was Dean asleep if he was better? Fawn looked upset. She echoed his thoughts, "Was he supposed to do that?"

Mike reassured Fawn and Sam, "Healing uses a lot of energy, both his and yours. He's really tired, but he's better."

Sam wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't seen it himself. Now he understood why Dean said he felt like he was in the twilight zone when Dean saw him being healed. "You did to him what you did to me," Sam said in a slightly awestruck voice. He knew Dean was fine since Griffin didn't look unhappy with what happened to his human. In fact, the young cat looked absolutely delighted. He was bright-eyed and occasionally chirped at Mike.

Mike nodded; his face seemed lined with exhaustion, "Yes, as Hunt leader we need him up and around."

Sam looked hopefully at Fawn who still looked like she had lots of energy. "Did you say you healed a puppy? Do you think you could do my kitten?"

Fawn looked at the cute little kitten still curled up on the pillow, she begged, "Can I Mike! Please?"

Mike regarded her thoughtfully, "How do you feel, are you tired?"

Fawn was bouncing up and down. "No! Please let me heal the kitten, please!"

Mike smiled in amusement. "Go ahead."

Sam watched in keen interest as Fawn cradled Starlight in her hands and closed her eyes. She stroked the small kitten, and Sam could see the same green and silver energy around Star that had surrounded Dean earlier. Star suddenly perked up and squawked, reaching for Sam. Griffin trilled through his purrs and tried to get to Star.

Fawn grinned, but she looked tired.

"Wow, thank you Fawn. That's quite the gift you have there." He gently took Starlight from her hands, gave her a kiss and cuddle and put her on the bed next to Griffin who was desperate to get to her. Sam sat down on the bed, happy that Dean and Star were healthy and alive, hovering over them and Griffin protectively.

Mike smiled fondly at the little girl. "Yes, it is a very rare gift. We're the only two known healers alive right now."

"Thank you for healing Dean." Sam looked down at Dean still sleeping soundly. "Will he sleep for long?"

"No, I'll be back soon to wake him up," answered Mike, "he needs to eat and so do you. Fawn you need to eat and then find Lin Yao. She's going to take care of you until I get home."

The little girl pouted at the reminder she was going to leave without Mike, but she must have been hungry since she left without arguing.

Sam regarded Mike thoughtfully, "I remember you now; I must have been four or five? It was a cold night."

Mike sat in the chair next to the bed, a bittersweet smile on his face. "Yes, it was in Colorado. Your father almost shot me."

Sam shook his head; his father had a consuming fear of losing his boys. "He was always worried we would get kidnapped. He beat that lesson into us enough."

Mike looked sad, "I'm sorry Sam. A lot of us were very concerned about you. People offered him a place to live, a place for you and Dean. I'm just sorry. No one wanted to kidnap you; we just wished your father would accept some help. We tried to get him to work with other Hunter lines."

Sam shrugged, "Not your fault. He had a lot of issues. Dean won't hear a word against him. But dad and I parted on bad terms. I got a scholarship to Stanford and he told me if I left to stay gone. I never saw him after that." Sam wished things could have been different, but at least he still had Dean. Sam felt a wave of possessiveness and protectiveness wash over him. He touched Dean's ribs as if to confirm that they were actually healed.

Mike regarded him quietly for a few moments, "Dean, well, we see that sometimes. It can hurt not to have the chance to tell someone goodbye."

Sam shrugged again thinking about finding their father's truck abandoned on the highway where the Lady in White haunted. The journal was still in the truck and beer bottles were on the floor. Sam wasn't overly surprised but Dean had been in total shock thinking his father had been taken out by a simple ghost; it was like his hero's wings had fallen off. "Dad and I never had a good relationship. Dean was more of a father to me than dad was." Sam looked at Mike and grinned, "But I'll deny it if you repeat that."

Mike laughed softly, his eyes crinkling, "Yes, there are things I'd never admit to Ben."

Sam looked at Mike in surprise, "Is he your brother? One of you was adopted?"

The healer laughed again and his harsh features transformed, "Technically, I was."

Sam looked down at Dean fondly. "He can be such a pain in the ass." But he wouldn't trade him for anyone. Sam was happy that everyone was alive and the pressure of his psychic abilities had been lifted off of him, even temporarily.

Mike's eyes twinkled, "I think that's true of all brothers. Ben is a few years older than I am. He was so protective of me, even when I first joined his family when I was four."

Sam smiled, "Guess that's the job of big brothers. Our job as little brothers is to piss them off."

Mike's eyes lit up in mischief, "I know I still annoy Ben."

Sam glanced up and saw Jay lying in the corner and bit his lip, guilty that he had asked for Star to be healed and not Jay. "Could you-"

Mike shook his head and raised a hand to stop him. "No, I'm sorry Sam. There is only so much either Fawn or I can do. Vera needs me far more than he does, and Fawn; well, I shouldn't have allowed her heal Star. Vera could die or be paralyzed and Dean is the Hunt leader here. Jay is a junior Guardian and has no life threatening or potentially disabling injuries. I'm very sorry we added to his injuries, but we'll take care of him until he heals. There were several misunderstandings last night and we have a lot to make up for. I know Pascal and Zip plan on apologizing to him, as will most of the members of the team." Mike had a far away look in his eyes. "I'm not sure if anyone told you, but we almost killed Vera last night. Another unforgivable mistake, but we didn't cause her injuries, and we will take care of her as well until she recovers."

Sam stared at him a moment, and he could feel his anger building. Almost killed Vera? Then again, they'd healed him, healed Dean and Star. Ben was helping him even now, keeping his mind calm. Jay was hurt, Vera was apparently injured badly, but Mike said the Comacines would take care of them until they were better. Sam's eyebrows knitted as he looked at Mike. He wasn't sure what to think now.

Sam was relieved Mike had left, leaving him alone with Dean and Jay, even though both of them were still asleep. It gave him time to think. He was conflicted, confused and afraid. Dean tried to hide from Sam his worry and fear of the situation and the Comacines but it was useless. Sam didn't even need to touch Dean to know, his empathic ability was hypersensitive. It comforted him to be able to feel Dean all the time now. Before, it was like Dean was always just out of reach.

Dean was like a cactus, he had a prickly personality on the outside but inside he was a big mushy sap where family was concerned. Sam leaned over to touch Dean's neck. Dean's feelings were muted in his sleep but he could still feel Dean's fear. Sam wasn't sure what had Dean so afraid of the Comacine Order; they said they knew they were wrong and were trying to fix things.

Ever since Sam woke up he could feel something in his mind. It was not quite a presence, not an entity but a connection. He gingerly probed the connection but there was no reaction. He didn't feel threatened by it and he knew it was connected to Ben, it was like a pressure relief valve, and it made him feel more comfortable. It was a relief to know he didn't have to try controlling his psychic abilities right now. Dean, Vera and Jay had rescued him and the Comacines healed him. Sam felt that he owed all of them a great deal. He was still angry with the Coms for hurting Jay, but they said they'd make him better. They'd made him better and healed Dean, too. Sam trusted them, but he knew Dean didn't. Sam was sure it was just a misunderstanding and he could help them work it out.

Sam heard Jay groan and stir on the mattress, he slowly and quietly moved over to Jay's bedside. The young Guardian sat up in a wide, glassy eyed panic. "Aunt Vera?!"

Sam jumped a little and flinched back, his voice was hoarse and tight. "Jay?"

Jay looked at Sam, wild-eyed and pale; confused and frightened. Sam could tell he was just as startled by Sam's healing as Sam had been when he woke up. "Sam? Is that you?"

Sam reached out to touch Jay's arm. "Yeah, it's me. You okay?"

Jay's face went slack with relief, but he looked confused again and burst into tears. "They killed Aunt Vera."

"No, no," Sam tried to reassure him. "She's still alive, it was a mistake, and they didn't kill her. Nora said she was hurt but still alive, so did Dean." Sam took Jay gingerly into his arms.

Jay clung to him, sobbing. "But I heard them talking, they plan to kill Aunt Vera and take us to Hawaii."

Sam felt his stomach flip and his anger built again as sobs racked Jay's body. Jay shouldn't be crying, he had to take care of him; fix things for him. He wasn't going to let anyone make Jay cry.

Sam could feel a startled echo from Dean, who was apparently feeling Sam's distress and anger even in his sleep. Sam tried to control his anger; he could take care of Jay. Dean needed to sleep and get better, too.

"Just before they drugged me this morning. They..." Jay was sobbing too hard to finish speaking. Sam hugged him harder, trying to push Jay's emotional pain out.

Dean got out of bed; it was obvious he was still half asleep. He shook his head groggily, "What's going on?"

Sam tried shushing Jay. "They didn't kill her, they won't either. I won't let them." Sam was quiet, he didn't think Mike and Ben would kill her; he just wanted to make Jay feel better, protected. Vera was hurt because of him so he had to take care of Jay while she recovered.

Dean limped over to them and put a hand on Sam's neck, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "She's alive, she's downstairs," he said projecting that he was absolutely sure she was alive.

Sam was relieved for Dean's touch; he could feel himself trying to spin out of control, being triggered by Jay's agony. He could still feel the gentle touch of Ben's 'safety valve', but it was no replacement for his brother.

As if Sam's thoughts summoned him, Ben all but ran into the room. "What happened?"

Jay suddenly screamed and tried backing away. Sam felt Dean's anger and suspicion flare. 

"What the hell did you people do to him?" growled Dean.

Ben seemed to wilt in on himself. Sam could feel Ben's sharp regret, his blue eyes clouding. "It was bad last night; but Jay's going to heal. We need to work on him. Jay's been traumatized pretty badly. Dean, could you calm both of them down? I'll be down the hallway until you do. We don't want to sedate him again." Jay tried to recoil, but Sam held him and wouldn't let go.

Dean put his other hand on Jay's neck. "Focus you two. Come on work with me here. I'm not gonna to let them do anything else to you Jay. They know I'm Hunt leader now." He glared at Ben who left the room but Sam could tell he was lurking outside the door.

Sam could feel the 'safety valve' working, he could still feel Jay's grief and fear and Dean's fury, but he was no longer on the edge of going rouge. He sighed in relief. Sam could feel his brother's flare of concern, but the Hunt leader turned his attention to Jay.

Dean shook the young Guardian gently. "Jay, tell me what's going on? What happened after I saw that little guy take you down last night?"

Jay's eyes were still glassy from the sedatives he'd been forced to take. "They, they - that guy was Zip. He dragged me back to the downstairs bathroom, wouldn't let me leave until that Canadian guy came and got us. He'd brought Aunt Vera in -- people were yelling at him about it -- I could hear them. One of the guys didn't want to help her, and then all of a sudden they were dragging me in to channel energy to this Native American dude. He said he was healing her, but I didn't see any change. They just left her lying there after they took you and Sam upstairs. They tried to get me to take some pills and when I wouldn't they gave me a shot."

Dean nodded. "I saw him this morning, his name is Pascal, and the healer is Mike. He is working on Vera; they have her in the downstairs bedroom. I saw her a little while ago; they brought in all this medical equipment for her."

Jay sagged with relief in Sam's arms. "Can I see her?"

He rubbed Jay's back around Sam's arms. "Yes, eventually. But you got to get under control first. All of Vera's shields are down and if you freak, you can hurt her." Jay laid his head on Sam's shoulder and shuddered.

"What else did they do to you? I know they sedated you twice, what happened this morning before we woke up?"

Jay haltingly told Dean about his experiences the night before and the questioning that morning. "After a while they decided they couldn't get me to talk; they tried attacking me psychically, but they couldn't get to me, couldn't feel me. Atin kept getting upset 'cause he said I was disappearing. Started threatening me if I didn't stop but that just made things worse; I couldn't stop it. Oh, Gods, I couldn't control it, and I've never lost control like that."

Dean grunted and stopped touching both Sam and Jay. Sam knew he was afraid of broadcasting his anger to them not realizing that he could feel Dean all the time now. "I set Ben straight in the kitchen earlier, told him about the bones, they no longer suspect you. They certainly have a lot to answer for Jay. Just keep it together or they'll be running back in here with the big needles."

The younger man couldn't stop gasping. "You don't understand; I couldn't control it, and then another guy came in, some sort of special interrogator. He was one scary looking dude. He kept asking what they'd done to me, where was Aunt Vera. He seemed seriously pissed. The blond guy, the one that was in here earlier, stopped him and threw him out. The guy was saying that nothing better happen to Aunt Vera."

Dean blinked in surprise. "What the fuck? Do you know his name?"

"They called him Red Dog, but after he was gone, I heard them talking; one guy was saying that they should overdose her on morphine and take the rest of us to Hawaii. Something about not putting Mike and Zip in danger by staying here. Was saying Red Dog's threat was probably a joke." Jay tried pulling away from Sam but Sam wouldn't let him go. Jay looked a little frightened for a moment; Sam knew he had to make him feel protected.

Dean looked frustrated and urgent. "They told me they found out this morning she was a Guardian," said Dean giving Sam a strange look. "Sam, give Jay some space to deal here." Sam released his grip on Jay reluctantly, but stayed very close to him, holding one of his hands.

Jay shook his head. "I don't know, I never saw the guy, I just heard him. Last night they were going to kill her!"

"It must be one of the guys Atin was sending off to Hawaii." Dean tried to reassure Jay. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to Vera. I'll make sure of that."

"I'm scared," Jay admitted, sounding ashamed of him self. Sam pulled him into his lap possessively, showing Jay by touching him that he had nothing to be ashamed of.

Dean' face twisted as he tried to control his anger at the Comacines for Jay and Sam's sake. "Dude, these idiots have a lot of shit to make up for." Dean turned his attention to Sam, "Sammy, chill. Jay's got enough to worry about without wondering what is up with you." Sam frowned at the nickname but held Jay less fiercely. Jay didn't move away, but Sam could feel he was relieved that he wasn't restraining him any more.

Jay shook his bruised head. "No, it's okay Dean."

Dean's lips tightened, something else was bothering him, and his gaze flickered to him. "Sam, something weird is going on here. Earlier you were getting angry and then you just mellowed out. You said Ben helped you. What's up with that?"

Sam shrugged. "I was freaking pretty badly last night. It was like I couldn't stand being touched. Then I could feel him in my mind and I started feeling better. People touching me didn't terrify me. I could think - I - I know I'm not totally with it yet, but I know I'll get better."

Dean seemed to consider it for a moment. "So how do you feel now? Does it bother you when I touch you?

Sam thought for a few seconds. "No, not you. Doesn't scare me, just don't want a lot of people to touch me."

Dean grunted and then looked at Jay still captive in Sam's lap. "How are you feeling now, better?"

Jay looked reluctant and burrowed back into Sam a little. "Yeah."

Dean's stomach gave a loud grumble. "Either of you getting hungry?"

"Yes!" Sam was surprised, he seemed to have more appetite then he'd had in a while.

Jay shrugged; "not really."

Dean ruffled Jay's hair. "I know you are worried about Vera, but don't let it get you run down. You need to eat, keep up your strength. I need my team fit and ready for action. I'll get us some food; the sheriff's mother is in the kitchen, so we know the food is safe."

Sam wondered at that, why would Dean think the food wouldn't be safe? "Okay," he replied deciding to let it pass for now and snuggled Jay a little more. Jay closed his eyes and went limp and almost submissive in his arms. He smiled; good, Jay was beginning to understand that he'd take care of him.

Dean limped off to get some food, hearing Sam telling Jay how he was healed. He didn't trust any of the Coms not to doctor the food on the way from the kitchen to the bedroom. They sure loved their sedatives. He left Sam and Jay cuddling, relieved Sam was able to show affection after his traumatic experience.

Ben was lurking nearby and met Dean in the hall. "How are they?"

Dean barely restrained a snarl, remembering what Nora Bonesteel had said earlier about being careful. "Just leave them alone. They're still calming down. I'm going to get us some food." He continued limping down the hall.

Ben nodded. "How bad is Jay?"

"Sounds like you have a pretty good idea. What happened this morning?" Dean wondered how much Ben would admit.

"We needed answers and he woke up first," was Ben's pathetic answer.

Dean just gave Ben a cold look. It was such a lame response. He projected one thought really hard at Ben 'asshole'.

Ben flinched a bit. "We were trying to protect the people of this community," he tried to justify.

Dean stopped before heading down the stairs and pointed a finger at Ben's chest. "You almost killed Vera, beat the crap out of Jay, drugged up both of us and took over the farm. Then you pushed Jay around trying to get him to talk and mind fucked him. Am I missing anything here?"

Ben swallowed, "Other than one of our junior members beating the hell out of him while trying to keep him restrained, no."

Dean gritted his teeth. Ben was not going to admit he did something to Sam's mind or that another Order had been here this morning. The Coms still could not be trusted to tell the whole truth. "Is that so? Then who is Red Dog and why did you call him in?"

Ben looked very surprised. "He's a special investigator with another Order. We called him in to deal with Jay because he wouldn't give us any information. You should be proud of him, he never gave anyone anything."

Dean was severely pissed and wasn't trying to hide it any more, let them sedate him again. "You proud of your rubber hose routine? Just how far were you 'gonna go to get Jay to talk?"

Ben turned red. "Let's go downstairs; Sam and Jay don't need to hear this conversation."

Dean looked down the hall a moment; he didn't need Sam running out here wondering what got him so pissed and took down his anger a notch. He wheeled around and limped down the stairs, one step at a time.

Ben followed him and glanced nervously at the kitchen, obviously in fear of Jane Arrowood. "Living room?"

Dean noted Ben's twitch and smirked; what did they call them, steel magnolias? "I'll meet you there; I need to speak to Mrs. Arrowood first." Dean ducked into the kitchen a moment and saw Nora and Jane talking quietly. He asked Jane if she could put together a meal for him, Sammy and Jay. The older woman smiled and looked like she was delighted by the request. Dean was surprised at the sight of casserole dishes, plates of sliced ham and trays of baked goods crowded on almost all the counters of the kitchen.

Dean looked around in bewilderment, how long had he been asleep? "Mrs. Arrowood, you didn't have to..."

Jane laughed. "Don't worry Dean, I didn't cook all this. Folks heard y'all were hurt rescuing Kathy so they started bringing over food. Some fellows came by and are working on the farm. You go take care of those Yankees." Dean laughed and shook his head.

When Dean got back to the living room, Ben was sitting in one of the chairs, looking tired and sad, almost grieving. Ben looked up. "Why don't you prop your ankle up?"

'Yeah,' Dean thought, 'I'd love to, right up your ass' and wondered if Ben got the message. He sat down and put up his feet on the scarred and battered coffee table.

Ben took a deep breath and tried explaining himself. "We didn't torture Jay. Sedate him, and yes, we intimidated him, but we didn't hurt him during the interrogations."

Dean stared coldly at Ben. "Did you tell him you were going to let Vera die if he didn't talk?"

"No! We never did that," Ben said emphatically. "We told him that we needed to know what was going on, and we were very blunt with him that if she wasn't a Guardian we'd have to let her die."

"Then what did you hold over Jay for refusing to talk?" Dean was very familiar with interrogation techniques, having at one point in time or another been questioned by everyone from the FBI to local deputies. He knew how intimidating the threats could get.

Ben twitched and looked down. "I didn't do the questioning, so I'm not sure exactly what was said, but we never threatened to withhold treatment. We did tell him that if he could give evidence that she was a Guardian it would help."

Dean remained unconvinced. Ben was covering for Atin who he knew did question Jay. But there remained a nameless Com who had threatened Vera openly this morning in Jay's hearing. "One of your people threatened to overdose Vera on morphine, Jay heard that."

Ben grunted in disgust. "That was Greg. I shipped him out for even suggesting it. He's not in medical, but security. He never had the authority to order her…overdosed."

Dean relaxed a little thinking he'd have to rip off Greg's arms for even suggesting it if he ever saw him. Ben flinched again. Dean mentally smiled, he was projecting loud and clear. Time to switch tactics; he needed more information on this other Order. "And what exactly is a special interrogator? Why did you need to bring in another Order?"

Ben made a sour face. "That was a mistake. We don't practice magic, and the Priory uses both psi abilities as well as magic. Since Jay and Vera use both as well, we were hoping they could find out what was going on here."

"Did he beat on Jay, or try some sort of Vulcan mind meld?" Dean was alarmed. He wondered what in particular was the nature of this mistake.

Ben jerked. "No! We just thought he could better evaluate the situation here. Jay didn't seem to understand some of our questions. I know part of it was him playing dumb, but not all of it. It's almost like we were speaking two different languages. There are things we can do that scare him, and he has some very rare and powerful abilities, as well as some abilities we've never even heard of."

Dean sat back and crossed his arms, evaluating Ben who was skillfully evading answering his questions. "What the hell did you people do to him to scare him so badly? If it wasn't torture or the threat of torture. What. Did. You. Do?"

He noticed that the Comacine in front of him looked exhausted, as if he hadn't had any sleep in the past day or two. "Dean, he ran out of the house in the middle of a thunderstorm before we even knocked on the door. He disappeared for a while before jumping into one of our vans and scared the hell out of two of our younger members. One of them drew on him. They tried to keep him restrained but couldn't sedate him because of series of strange events. They cuffed him, but released him when it became obvious he was going to break his wrists to get out of them. If Jay would have stopped panicking he wouldn't have been hurt."

Dean shook his head in disgust. Ben was trying to turn the blame around on Jay now; he wasn't going to get any answers from him. "You people are very good at lying and half truths. What are you not telling me here?"

"Dean," Ben began, wondering what he could do to gain the Hunt leader's trust. "Jay saw the Circle last night. He saw how badly Sam was butchered and he saw Vera thrown by the demon and hitting the altar. We tried to keep him out of it. He went through hell last night, and most of it was our fault."

Dean was disturbed. He cursed the Coms mentally for putting Jay through that. "Jay was there? He saw everything?"

Ben closed his eyes and for a moment Dean swore he was about to cry. "Yes. We tried to keep him out of it, but he stayed invisible, so it was difficult to keep up with him last night."

Dean looked at Ben suspiciously and wondered just how hard they really tried to keep Jay out of things and why Ben was so emotional about it. "So you knew he saw all that last night, and yet you still went Gestapo on him this morning?"

"We didn't brutalize him this morning; we were just trying to get him to talk to us," Ben pleaded with Dean to understand.

Dean snorted skeptically. "Jay freaked big time when he saw you; looks like you mind fucked him bad. Now tell me what you did to Sam."

Ben lifted his hands from the arms of the worn upholstery of the chair he was sitting in and let them drop again. "We healed him."

Dean gritted his teeth. "What else?"

Ben shifted uncomfortably. "I did something so I could monitor his use of psychic abilities."

Dean's voice dropped to a quiet, dangerous tone. "It does more than monitor, stop bull shitting me and tell me what kind of control you have over Sam."

Ben closed his eyes. "The only thing I can do is calm him down and keep him from going rogue. Sam is still angry. I'm surprised he hasn't come thundering down here to check on you yet."

Dean was relieved, it seemed like the Coms didn't know he had a psychic bond with Sam. "Is that all you can do? Influence him to be calm?"

"Yes. I did it earlier when he first saw Jay. Sam will be -- a little off -- for a few days, but he'll slowly get better."

Dean glared. "Quit the mind control crap you're using on Sammy."

Ben simply looked at Dean. "If you want us to keep him sedated because he's continually going rogue, I will. After a day or two I'll be glad to put it back in. Vera isn't up and around to deal with him and won't be for months."

Dean felt his temper rising. "And is that the plan for Jay too? Keep him doped up? He's falling apart thanks to you people. Before you came in guns blazing Jay never lost control. Now he's hiding behind Sam 'cause he's scared shitless."

Ben rubbed a hand over his head wearily. "Actually, I want to do some work with him."

'Like hell', thought Dean, 'you done enough fucking with his mind.' He spat out, "By work you mean more mind controlling techniques like you have on Sam."

Ben bit back on some profanities. "No, Sam's not really controlled. He can leave, attack anyone here. I'm just ensuring he doesn't lose control of his emotions enough to go rogue. He'd be catatonic right now if I hadn't worked with him."

Dean grunted and got up, disgusted with their good cop, bad cop attitude. "I think I've heard enough lies. I want to talk to someone that doesn't know your secret handshake, like this Red Dog dude."

Ben sighed. "I'll talk to Atin and see if we can get him to come back. He's in Gatlinburg, so he's close by."

Dean was surprised and disappointed Ben agreed so quickly. Maybe Red Dog was on their payroll after all. Too much intrigue to figure out on an empty stomach. "Good, I got to feed my team." 'What's left of it', Dean thought grimly.

Vera felt as if she had just risen to the surface of the water of a slow-moving river. She took a deep breath, enjoying the sweetness of the water and was almost blinded by the bright sun reflecting off the water. She struck out towards the eastern shore of the river and was surprised to find herself clothed in a long dress of deep rose as she walked up the bank. The woods around her showed the shading of late summer flowing into autumn, the colors ranging from deep green to yellow and red. The air held a pleasant coolness as she saw a man sitting on a large rock just up the hill from her. He looked familiar, and it took her a moment to place him.

Then the memories rushed back, the demons, the cave, and the spirit that had comforted her after the Circle. Sam butchered, Dean hurt; hearing Jay's screams, people shooting at them. Her heart caught in her throat, but the dark-haired, copper-skinned man smiled.

Vera just looked at him. Was she dead? If she was, why wasn't Albin here? She had missed him terribly these past few years. Her throat constricted with tears as she looked up and down the bank.

"No Little Sister." Vera jumped, surprised by his echoing voice, even though she had seen him twice. "You have not passed yet, but it was very near. You might still slip to the Western bank."

Vera regarded him seriously for a moment, cocking her head to one side. "Then why am I here? Why are you here with me?" Vera knew he was a higher order of benevolent spirit, but she couldn't quite place what he was.

He smiled sadly. "My name is Ravenmocker. I wish I could do more for you, but I have pushed the boundaries too far already. I wish I could have introduced myself before now, but I have been involved with the Winchester brothers a great deal as of late."

Vera couldn't help but laugh, but then remembered Sam's injuries and Dean crawling to reach her. "Sam, Dean, oh Gods, Jay, where are they? How are they?"

Ravenmocker shook his head sorrowfully. "I can not tell you, I can offer you no form of aid or comfort right now. I just ask that you keep fighting Ashera. Just keep fighting."

She blinked in confusion, and then she was entrapped by her tortured flesh and the dark oblivion of her unconscious mind. 


	22. Laws

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 21: Hunter Laws and Priory Secrets**

**Summary:** The Priory meets with Dean; they have a surprising connection to Vera. Dean's libido kicks in. Sam has visions.

Hearing footsteps, Jane Arrowood was happy to see Dean returning to the kitchen. "Dean! There you are. I put together some lunch for you, Jay and Sam like you asked. I put it all on trays since I'm sure they're not ready to come down yet. Pascal!" she ordered, "Come help Dean get all this upstairs."

Pascal finished putting away some plates and walked over, smiling tentatively at Dean.

Dean gave her a genuine smile and a wink. "I appreciate all your help Mrs. Arrowood. Will you be coming back?" Dean looked around in amazement at the counters covered in trays and platters of food. He'd seen them all earlier, but he was trying to figure out how Mrs. Arrowood cooked it all.

"No trouble at all," Jane smiled back, amused that Dean flirted with everyone no matter what their age. "Mizz Bonesteel and I will be going home for a bit, but folks have been coming by to drop off food and help with the farm." Dean had to swallow past another lump in his throat. He was used to getting run out of small towns after jobs, not being brought hams, cookies and casseroles.

Jane gathered up her car keys, "I'll be back to help put supper together. Pascal will keep the kitchen while I'm gone." she explained, letting him know that she trusted this Comacine not to poison them

Dean nodded relieved. He felt outnumbered, "That's good to hear. I'll see you soon." Jane smiled and patted his arm before leaving.

"Is Jay awake yet?" Pascal asked timidly, lifting a tray heaping with two platefuls of food.

Dean picked up the other tray, "Yeah, they're both awake, too upset to come downstairs."

"I'm sorry I didn't convince Mike sooner," Pascal blurted out an apology.

Dean frowned, "What do you mean? Convince him of what?"

"I knew Vera was a Guardian when I saw Jay. I couldn't get Mike to believe me. I," he paused as if he was reluctant to continue, "I used to be a Guardian here."

Dean stopped and looked at Pascal totally mystified. "Excuse me? How can you 'used to be' a Guardian and how did you know Vera and Jay were?"

Pascal looked very uncomfortable, "In a past life, I was a Bonesteel. _Ma tante_ Nora recognized me, I was a Guardian here. I knew Jay was a Guardian as soon as I saw him, and then he told me Vera was as well."

Dean had heard lots of strange things before, but reincarnation? He scoffed, "How Shirley MacLaine of you."

Pascal looked upset, then resigned, "Do you know Ravenmocker?"

Now Dean got nervous, "I've seen him. I take it you have as well." Pascal nodded. Dean took the stairs slowly, balancing the tray and trying not to put too much pressure on his sore ankle. "He gave me some good advice. What did he tell you?"

Pascal kept pace with him, "Not much, more like feelings, visions. He told me he couldn't help me anymore and I saw him with Vera last night."

Dean sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Why did he always get surrounded by Seers? They were always telling him things he didn't want to hear. He knew Ravenmocker was there because Vera was dying. "Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

Pascal looked puzzled, "I already said it. I'm sorry, and I was hoping to tell Jay too."

Dean paused when he reached the top of the stairs. "Thanks, Pascal, for the apology." He thought of all the Comacines Pascal had the least reason to apologize. Mike was the one who had screwed up this and it looked like he was trying to put the blame on Pascal.

Pascal gave a sad smile, glad his apology was accepted.

Dean went into the bedroom and sat down with his tray of food and propped up his bad ankle on the bed. "Dig in."

Sam was lying down on the bed, curled around Jay who looked even worse, his bruises were blossoming. Sam sat up and eagerly took the tray from Pascal. Jay sat up more slowly, staring at Pascal with mixed emotions.

Sam sighed, "God, these look good." He dug into the sandwiches, eating like he hadn't eaten for days. Dean watched; happy Sam found his appetite. Sam started pulling apart one of the sandwiches, giving the meat and cheese to a ravenous Starlight. It was kind of funny seeing such a little kitten attacking a piece of cheese while growling. Griffin politely pawed Dean's wrist to ask for his share.

"Jay," Pascal said hesitantly, "I'm sorry about leaving you alone with Zip last night."

Jay looked more confused than angry. "Why?" he asked.

"Well this is the first time for him in the field. He hasn't finished his training and he was rough on you. Plus he was so excited about you discovering his ability. Thank you for that. We never guessed Zip was a booster," Pascal explained.

"I still don't know why y'all make such a big deal over it," Jay replied slowly.

Pascal looked surprised. "Are you kidding? You and Zip have an extremely rare ability. There are only three known boosters in the world, well with you, Vera and Zip, now it's six.

Jay looked skeptical, "You're kidding, right?"

"You think so? Can you think of any other boosters?" challenged Pascal.

Jay considered, "Well, no, but Aunt Vera didn't act like it was anything special."

Right then, LaShonda breezed into the room looking for Pascal, "There you are! Greg has left, so you can stop hiding in the kitchen."

Pascal gave a small grin. He looked relieved. "Well I got a few days reprieve then. Did you need me for something?"

While LaShonda was threatening Jay with a cool bath and cold packs, Dean brought the trays back to the kitchen. His ankle was more stiff than sore, but he felt restless and needed to move around. Griffin followed; he must not have liked the idea of getting near a bathtub full of water. The poor cat had enough of water and rain yesterday.

Now that the drugs in his system had worn off he was agitated. Seeing Vera and Jay in this condition made him angry, but the Comacines had healed him and Sam. He was conflicted. These arrogant Comacines had been lying, manipulating and scheming ever since they arrived in Wake County. Dean still wanted them off the farm and out of his territory as soon as possible, despite their healing.

When Dean entered the kitchen, he saw Cheryl making a jug of iced tea. Dean remembered her phone call from the station and his frustration boiled over, "You lied about knowing my father."

Cheryl watched Dean's every movement carefully. She shrugged, "True, I never met him personally, but the Order tracked him for many years and offered our services."

"I saw you shoot at Vera last night! Then you people were talking about kidnapping Sam!"

Cheryl's eyes narrowed. "It is my job to hunt down psychic terrorists and rogue psychics. We knew Sam was untrained and is a very powerful psychic, it was a matter of time before he went rogue. We had to find and contain him before he hurt anyone."

Dean was unmoved, "And Vera?"

Regret flashed in her navy blue eyes, but she looked steadily at Dean, "I was told she was a psychic terrorist and I follow orders."

Dean's eyes widened, it was the only response that he could have accepted, or respected. He thought about how he had followed his father's orders all his life. Dean nodded, his jaw working tightly. He was lashing out at the wrong person.

"You're right," he agreed in way of apologizing for his outburst. To Dean's surprise Griffin walked up to Cheryl and started rubbing his head and side against her bare legs.

"Is he your cat?" she asked bending to pet Griffin, "he's so sweet." Dean leaned forward to get an eyeful of her cleavage, her simple vee-necked t-shirt and shorts was more appealing than some of the dressed to kill women he was familiar with from bars.

Cheryl looked up in time to catch him looking and grinned. Dean cleared his throat, "His name is Griffin. He's my familiar."

Cheryl nodded and stood up again. "He's very devoted. He stayed outside with me and Vera last night in all that rain." Her lips twitched, as if she was trying not to smile. "He took a few chunks out of Atin last night defending you and few more out of him this morning. I think Atin is hiding from him while he tries to figure out a way to make a truce with him."

Dean shuddered slightly, remembering her strange ability to slow time down. Now he understood why she stayed with Vera in the Circle last night. He looked down and smiled fondly at Griffin. "He's one of a kind."

"Sorry about lying, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" Cheryl was smiling suggestively; she had caught him looking and now was flirting. Dean grinned; the day was definitely taking a turn for the better.

"Well," his gaze lowered back to her cleavage. "I'm sure you can think of something."

She took a step closer, "It can't be in the house," she said.

Dean's quickly thought of his options. "Uh, the carriage house, I had Joe park my car in there."

Cheryl stepped away "I'm off duty at 10 tonight." Her smile was enigmatic. Dean blinked as she left the kitchen. Did he really just score a booty call with a psychic cop?

Women. It always came down to the women. They were the glue that held families together. They were the nurturers, they were the ones who usually cared for the young, raised and shaped them. There was a reason why so many faiths considered motherhood sacred. Never underestimate the power of the female. Destroy the women and you destroyed families and whole communities.

Look at Sam Winchester. Mommy died when he was just a baby. Daddy became obsessed with vengeance, dragging poor little Sammy and his tough-but-tender older brother all over the countryside. No childhood, living with no structure, no security, often not knowing when he'd eat again, always hiding. Daddy did a great job of almost breaking him. Sam was almost where he wanted him. The way his mother had died had shaped his entire life. It had warped his father's mind with revenge, forced his brother to grow up far too fast, becoming his protector at the age of four and put a burden of guilt on Sam that wasn't his. 

All of this pain, grief and madness with just one death.

Then Sam ran away from that life. He'd given him the slip for a little while, but he found him. It was simple, and then it was just a matter of checking back in on him from time to time, waiting for the right opportunity.

Then he came back one night and found pretty little Jess. Jessica. Another woman Sam loved, perhaps the only one besides his mother. A mother he couldn't remember, his love for her was idealized, but Jess was real, flesh and blood he'd held in the night. Sam had nightmares before it happened of course, but that was part of the beauty of it all.

It was perfect, almost too good. The look on Sam's face as he watched Jess twitch and bleed before she burned was a beautiful thing. He'd just found out that daddy had died, and now Jessica burned above him. So he waited again. Sam began losing control, Dean was confused and desperate. Just a little more, and Sam would break. Such a powerful rogue psychic would create a wonderful amount of damage and destruction. It was so much easier to track down powerful psychics and their families and drive them mad or kill them before they had a chance to join one of the Orders or Lines. If they went mad, all the better, the Lines and Orders would have to use resources to deal with them rather than fight the real enemy.

Never underestimate the power of the female. Now two women were interfering in his plans for Sam; an ancient, decrepit Seer on a mountain and a witch priestess, both Guardians. More women whose deaths would damage a whole community and help drive Sam and maybe even a few other psychics over the edge. The witch priestess was both the most dangerous and the most vulnerable right now. Killing her under the noses of not only Sam but a Major Order would be a triumph. The amount of fear, grief and destruction with that one death would be great.

The demon watched and waited, calculating with glee how many lives he could damage with just one strike.

Atin, usually relaxed and easy going, was irritated. He was striving hard to restrain the impulse to snap at the team; most of them didn't deserve it. Mike, the one who did, was untouchable due to his exalted status as the only known healer in the world, or at least he was before he found Fawn. Atin was a close personal friend of Hradani Tudor, but Mike was above reproach, no matter how incompetent he was as a team leader.

After this disaster, Atin was the one left to clean up the mess. This mission was so bizarre that even the locals coming out to help with the farm work and bring food made him twitchy. They had this look in their eye like they all knew much more then they were acknowledging.

He was taking a break, lounging on the couch in the living room. LaShonda took it upon herself to tend to Jay, a thankless job since he was a fussy and bad-tempered patient. Sam was hovering over both Dean and Jay. Dean was taking another nap probably to escape Sam's smothering attention. Vera was in critical but stable condition. The situation was as under control as it could be right then.

There was a knock on the door and he groaned. More locals with food? Atin knew he shouldn't complain, the locals had been an invaluable help, but it was getting more and more difficult shooing them off. They all wanted to see Vera, Dean, Sam and to a lesser extent Jay. He began to drag himself to his feet when he heard the door open.

Atin stepped out into the great hall to see Will Woodfin, the Head of the Priory of Nyx and his entourage blithely walking in. "Thanks for saving me the trouble of opening the door," Atin let the words fall sarcastically from his mouth, "come in." Normally he would have been respectful to the head of another Order, but this was Will.

It was the mark of the odd relationship between their two Orders that Will only grinned. "You're welcome! The Comacine's hospitality has always been impeccable." Atin noticed that the Nyxians were casually dressed. He guessed it was to put the Winchesters at ease. Hradani had told him to expect Will, but he assumed to receive a call letting him know when he would come by. He should have known better.

"I see you brought enough players to field a baseball team." Might as well keep this light; Will certainly would. The Priory was always easier to deal with if you played along with them. "Is this business or pleasure?"

"Business," Will said with a genuine smile. Atin got along with him fairly well, unlike Mike. "We always win the inter-Order tournament at the Conclave, but the Maccabeans did have me worried last year. Rad told you to expect me?"

Atin frowned. "For some reason I thought that she meant your representatives. Well don't stand there letting in the bugs, bring in your crew."

"I understand Dean Winchester is the Hunt leader?" Atin knew that Will knew that…Atin shook his head. Why did Will always play these games?

"You got our message that he wanted to speak to Red Dog?"

"Yes, Rad is just a tad nervous about the idea of a three-way war, she practically begged us to come as soon as possible once Dean made the request. Well, the Knights won't have much of a claim here in a bit."

Atin raised an eyebrow and decided the less he knew about the Knights failure to claim Jay as their kin, the better. Atin wouldn't bet on Jennifer Greer surviving the next 24 hours. Was Rad right about Jay being Will and Vera's son? Atin invited them to have seats in the living room while he sent Pascal to wake Dean.

Everyone stopped talking when Dean entered the living room. He surveyed the mob of people counting eight not including Atin. They were casually dressed in jeans and t-shirts or short-sleeved shirts. The jeans were designer and most of the shirts were silk. They looked like they were slumming, especially in the crumbling farm house with scarred and mismatched furniture. He had asked to see one guy and got a gang. All but one man had stood when he came into the room, making Dean uneasy wondering if they were going to attack him or if they were just being polite. He decided not to waste any time on etiquette. "I'm Dean Winchester. Which one of you is Red Dog?"

A tall, skinny redheaded man raised his hand. "I'd like to speak to you," Dean grunted and glanced at Atin, "alone."

A very short, slender man with pale skin and dark hair who had remained seated smiled and stood up. "That is what I negotiated with the Head of the Comacine Order; we get welfare visits, which include private meetings."

Red Dog deferred to the shorter man. "Dean, this is Will Woodfin, Head of the Priory of Nyx." Will walked over to Dean and offered his hand, his warm smile never faltering.

Dean eyed Will's hand for a moment wondering for a second if Will wanted him to kiss his ring or something. Dean grasped the offered hand and shook it. "Are all of you from the Priory?"

Will's expression suddenly changed, becoming grave. "Yes. I brought an entire medical and psychological team for an independent examination of all of you."

At that particular comment Atin grunted and said, "I'll be on the back porch if you're looking for me." He left shutting the door on the group in the tiny living room.

Dean looked at Will and the others suspiciously. "What do you mean by welfare visits?"

Will looked Dean in the eye, something he appreciated. "The Comacines have claimed this territory as the first Order or Line on the scene. I demanded welfare visits to check on you, to give you an outside voice and to confirm their reports on the situation. Basically I'm here to keep them honest.

"Keep the Comacines honest?" Dean snorted. "Let me know when they started. Why don't we go into the library, there's more room to talk there." Since Dean hadn't taken a seat, the others were still standing. Dean led the way to the library followed by Will and the others; he noticed that the door to Vera's room had been shut. He'd ask about that later. It was probably just so she wouldn't be disturbed.

Will's voice called Dean's attention back. "She hasn't changed much I see," the Head of the Priory said fondly, looking around the library before taking a seat.

"You know Vera?" He asked surprised. He was sure if Vera had known about these Orders she would have told him, wouldn't she? Dean was suddenly struck by how little he really knew about her and how short a time they had known one another. The past few days had felt like years. He all but collapsed into one of the chairs. The rest of the Priory members found seats or leaned against bookshelves. For a split moment Dean felt like getting up and sitting down over and over again just to drive them crazy.

"She was my first teacher, and I was her first student."

Dean felt himself starting to warm up to Will, there was something about his voice when he talked about Vera. Maybe Will could remove whatever Ben had stuck in Sam's head. "What do you know of the techniques the Comacines use to control psychics?

"Which one?" Will laughed. "That's one of the things they specialize in, controlling and training rogue psychics."

"Ben is controlling my brother somehow." Dean leaned forward a little, and his hopes rose; he knew he couldn't deal with Sam on his own, not when he went into one of his fits or rages. Vera was near death and Jay was too traumatized to help keep Sam in check. He hated that Ben had this control over his brother. Maybe Will could offer him some other alternative and a way to get rid of the Comacines. "He didn't say what it is only that it enabled him to calm him down."

Will sighed, knowing what Dean wanted and knowing he couldn't give it to him, mainly for Sam's sake. "As much as I hate to say it, the Coms are very good at helping rogues. They use certain techniques to control them while helping the untrained psychics learn to control their abilities themselves. They always gradually stop the monitoring as the psychics improve."

Dean felt the floor drop out from under him. Will said he was here to check up on the Comacines, and yet he was condoning their actions? Just whose side was Will on? Dean could feel a subtle attempt from Will to soothe him. He pinched the bridge of his nose, he was getting a headache. He did not need another psychic trying to mess with his head. Griffin jumped into his lap and tried to comfort him. Dean glared at Will and projected back his irritation and a single thought jab. Stop!

Will and some of the other members of the Priory flinched, one actually jumped in surprise. Will stopped projecting. Everyone hushed.

Dean sighed; maybe they would be more help for Jay. "The reason I asked for Red Dog was he interrogated Jay this morning." He turned to look at Red Dog. "I know Ben and Atin interrogated Jay before you arrived; and now Jay is terrified of them." Dean paused; he hoped Red Dog knew what went on. "What do you think they did to Jay?"

The redhead scowled, and Dean could understand why Jay thought the dude was scary. "He's been beaten and terrorized. He was still drugged when I saw him, he wouldn't let me touch him and I spent less then three minutes with him, so I don't know much else."

Dean shifted, feeling his own features sharpen. Touch. These psychics learned a lot about you from touching. Briefly Dean wondered what Will found out about him when they shook hands earlier. It was bad enough he couldn't pretend in front of Sam anymore, but to have strangers privy to his emotions, well that just blows. Dean let out a breath and tried to calm down. He really didn't want to let the Priory know how helpless he felt about the situation. "Do you think they psychically tortured him?"

"No," Red Dog replied slowly, "but I do think that they were negligent in their physical care of him."

Bruises were the least of Jay's problems. "Vera trained Jay from birth. He was very proud of the fact he never lost control before. Now that the Coms are here he says he can't control his abilities. They must be doing something to him."

Will shifted in his chair, his expression serious. "I understand Jay has had a lot come down on him over the past few months. I think his problem is most likely due to stress. It sounds like he's on the edge of breaking."

Dean agreed about the close to breaking part, but thought there was more to it than just stress. He had learned to trust his instincts and they were telling him that some of the Comacines were up to something. "That's a big part of it. The Coms have been bullying him since last night. Ben wanted to do some mind healing on him, but I'm not going to let them mess with his head anymore. Jay is terrified of them." Dean's instincts also told him he could trust Will's people with Jay. He also knew Jay would never let Ben touch him but could he cope with a stranger touching him? Dean didn't see there was any alternative. "Is there one of your people that can look at him?"

"Yes, we brought two of our best mind-healers with us. Red Dog thought they might be needed."

Dean chewed on his lower lip a moment; he had to let Will know how grave the situation was here. "Jay was there last night. He knew they were here to execute Vera and he saw – too much."

Will's dark eyes were unreadable. "Is he that bad? Where is he?"

He wondered at Will's concern. Why was he so upset by all of this, even if he was an old friend of Vera's? "He's been hiding with Sam up in our bedroom all day." He looked at Red Dog. "After you left, Jay heard someone named Greg threaten to overdose Vera on morphine and ship us out." The entire Priory team went very still, and Dean could imagine a cold anger rolling around the room. Their concern was a relief. "So Ben got Greg shipped out and put Atin in charge. Even if they are supposed to help Hunters and Guardians, they have almost killed Vera, intimidated and beat Jay and put some kind of mind control device in Sam's head."

Total silence reigned in the library for a few moments. Dean began to wonder if this group in front of him was really here to help them. They didn't seem anxious to remove the Comacines. Will finally spoke again. "I don't understand how the Coms screwed up so badly. They could have helped all of you, should have helped all of you. Atin is a good team lead; he should have been on lead from the beginning. Things would have gone better if he had been in charge instead of Mike."

Dean petted Griffin trying to reign in his anger and despair over the situation. None of that mattered now. "Maybe, but that doesn't help us now. The area is now open season thanks to them. At least we took out the demons before the idiots destroyed my team."

Will looked frustrated. "Unfortunately we have to work with the situation we have. I can't remove the Coms from this area. Mike is the only one that can put Vera back together enough so that she can walk again if her condition is as bad as I've been told. It also sounds like Sam needs help with Vera injured as badly as she is.

His anger rose, what the hell did he mean by 'we'? He was the one who was left to deal with all the crap. Alone. Dean jutted out his chin stubbornly. "I was managing Sam before they showed up, and I've been trying to keep both Sam and Jay with it all morning. If it weren't for Vera, I'd have run their sorry asses off the farm by now."

"If Vera was up and around," Will said gently. "I'm sure between the two of you there wouldn't be a problem."

That was a given. No point in continuing this discussion. Will offered him a mind healer and Jay was in desperate need of one. Dean got up as Griffin jumped off his lap. "I don't want to freak Jay or upset Sam. Could you pick one of your mind healers to come upstairs with me?"

Will summoned one of his members with a motion of his hand, a young woman with brown curly hair, grey eyes and a very sweet face. "This is Elizabeth."

The woman Will Woodfin indicated smiled and Dean noticed that she was about Sammy's age. Elizabeth was also the most non-threatening looking person here along with Will, clear skinned with a mass of out of control, curly hair. Good, Jay was freaked enough as it was. Dean nodded for her to follow him.

As they started down the hall and up the stairs Dean noticed her well-endowed profile and realized that it'd been a damned long time since he'd gotten laid. He thrust those thoughts out of his mind when they reached the top of the stairs and paused, turning to Elizabeth, "Let me tell Jay and Sam about you first. And a word of warning, my brother is very protective of him."

She frowned. "Okay."

Sam was sitting on the bed while talking softly to Jay. The teen was laying on his stomach with cold gel packs on his back and various other parts of his body. There was other evidence of LaShonda's treatment, Jay's hair was damp and there were bottles of pain reliever on a bedside table. Dean winced when he heard Jay's spine crack as he stretched, but his face showed relief and not pain.

Dean grinned at the look on Sam's face. Sam had that geek boy romantic look in his eye that passed as red blooded lust for him. He didn't know how Jay could manage a roll in the hay right now, farm boy or not. Hell, Sammy would probably want to read him poetry for a month first. He was relieved that Sam could look at anyone like that after his ordeal. "Dudes, we have visitors. There is another Order, called the Priory of Nyx. I asked them here to keep an eye on the Comacines. One of them is here to help you Jay, she's a mind healer.

Jay looked at him nervously. "What is she going to do to me?"

Sam stirred on the bed, his expression wary as he shifted slightly closer to Jay. Dean didn't like this, he felt like he needed a choke collar for his brother. How could Sam seem better in some ways but still fucked up in others? He decided to keep his attention on Jay for right now. "Heal you. Be sure you don't go postal after all the crap that has gone down the past few days." He glanced at Sam. "Something like what Ben did for Sam but without the additions."

His brother just shrugged; it was obvious he didn't think Ben had done anything bad to him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Elizabeth peek around the door. Her curly dark hair was frizzy and he saw it before he noticed her face.

"Do I have to?" Jay asked anxiously. Sam reached for him and gently eased him onto his side, taking the cold packs off of him. Jay flinched and gasped at the movement, looking like he was having a back spasm.

Dean frowned. Will did say some of his members were on a medical team. Jay didn't look any better after LaShonda was here earlier, but first he had to get Jay's head straight. "Yes. It is either Elizabeth or Ben. Choose." Jay flinched again, looking cornered. Sam gently stroked his back.

Elizabeth slowly eased into the room, looking shy and actually blushing a little. If anything, she looked like she was almost as afraid of Jay as he was of her. "It isn't anything bad. You'll feel better."

Sam rolled over and lay beside Jay, not quite touching him. "It helps. Dean and I are here. Ben did it for me, are you sure you wouldn't rather have him?"

"No!" Jay responded, alarmed at the thought of Ben touching him.

"It won't even hurt," Dean added for Jay's benefit, "will it Elizabeth?"

She smiled and her face lit up. "No, usually the opposite."

Jay settled a little more comfortably as Sam moved closer and curled around him. Elizabeth gently touched Jay's head as his eyes fluttered closed and his face went slack. Dean could see the some of the stress slowly leaving Jay's face.

The familiars were both intensely interested in what Elizabeth was doing. Star and Griff sniffed Jay's hair and face, and Elizabeth's hands. Star nuzzled Sam's face after a moment, wanting attention. Dean watched the familiar's reactions, remembering Vera's instructions to trust them. The two cats seemed very interested and curious but not upset.

As much as Dean tried to avoid chick flick moments he knew psychics felt better when someone they trusted touched them. Dean wasn't sure why Jay trusted him so much, they hadn't known each other for very long. But, he had made a promise to take care of Jay for Vera, so he moved closer and held Jay's hand, letting Jay feel his concern. Sam smiled at Dean and placed his hand on top of Dean's hand, linking all three of them. Dean knew he couldn't hide the way his stomach was churning from Sam. The whole situation was out of his control and he was just reacting to it instead of using strategy. Sam gave him a puzzled look and tightened his grip on Dean's hand.

Elizabeth slowly withdrew from Jay as he began to cry softly, unlike the harsh sobs of his earlier hysterics. Griffin began licking Jay's swollen face slowly while occasionally butting his head gently against him. Star continued to nuzzle Sam until he released Dean's hand and picked her up and settled her in the small space between his and Jay's bodies.

The young Guardian's crying calmed down pretty quickly; he blew his nose and seemed to be drifting off to sleep. Sam looked drowsy eyed himself under his shaggy bangs.

Sam and Jay seemed to want to sleep a lot. "Does this make him tired?" Dean asked Elizabeth in a tense and somewhat irritated undertone.

She smiled and looked a little tired herself. "Yes, especially considering how upset he's been." After a moment she added "any type of healing drains the patient. They'll both sleep a lot the next few days, up to 12 hours, but that's normal." Dean blew out a sigh of relief.

Dean gingerly clasped Jay on the shoulder, afraid of hurting him. "Get some rest Jay. Sam will stay with you." Jay mumbled a bit, but seemed to be happy with the order. Griffin chirped at Dean, still curled up on the bed next to Jay's chest. Dean smiled at Griffin, glad his familiar was sensitive enough to know what he needed and seemed to be asking to do it. "Griffin will guard you two. Griff, come get me if they need anything. I'll make sure you get some more ham later." The grey-and-white cat trilled enthusiastically before snuggling Jay.

The empath/healer was silent until they were out of earshot of the bedroom. "He'll need more work later," she said softly.

"I thought so. He's had too much crap come down on him."

Elizabeth nodded. "He's a heck of a fighter, though. He never stopped fighting, he never gave them anything."

He looked at Elizabeth curiously. Ben said almost the same thing. "Were you able to see what happened to him?"

Elizabeth's shy demeanor that she used to calm Jay disappeared into the competence he'd seen earlier. "He's afraid of everyone leaving him, either dying or throwing him out of their lives. The Coms, he knew they were here to kill Ms Kesterson, people trying to shoot her, Sam cut up, both you and Ms Kesterson hit by the demon, a woman who'd been raped and tortured. He was almost drowned in the mud last night, saw his aunt just left lying in a muddy field, dying, being kept away from her, having a gun pointed at his head..." Her voice trailed off as she shuddered hard enough to rattle her teeth. "That's a lot for even a Guardian or Hunter, all in a few hours. Especially one so young and with no experience."

Dean felt a renewed sense of anger at the Coms but he was relieved he was hearing part of what happened to Jay. "Did they do anything more to him this morning?"

"One of them attacked him psychically, but Jay did something, I don't understand what. He felt it, but it didn't touch him, couldn't hurt him. It scared him though; he didn't think there was anybody out there that powerful." Elizabeth's face was clouded, like she was trying to explain something she didn't have words for. Huh, looked like Jay's little tricks were a mystery to this new Order too.

Dean's eyes narrowed. "I knew something else happened. Oh, and its Doctor Kesterson, Vera has a PhD." Dean fondly remembered Vera correcting him in the library.

She looked a little embarrassed. "Yes sir."

Sir? That just killed off any sexual interest he had in her. "No sweat, sweetheart." When did he become a 'sir'? Oh, yeah, that Hunt leader thing. He desperately hoped that didn't mean he couldn't have fun anymore. At least Cheryl didn't call him sir.

When they were back to the library, Dean let Elizabeth give her report. Will nodded and then asked one of his people, Jason, to find who is running the kitchen and bring in drinks and some food. "We're going to be here for a while. Red Dog, Ace, stay with us, everyone else is excused."

Then Will turned and looked at Dean. "Well, I need to discuss a lot of things with you; do you have any questions first?"

Dean finally asked the question he'd wanted to ever since Will showed up on the doorstep. "So why are you here? What are you getting out of this?" His experience with people was that they didn't offer their services freely without getting something in return.

The Priory's leader's mouth quirked up at one corner, "Vera was my first teacher." He sounded as if he wasn't sure Dean would understand. "I was her student years ago, when I was a freshman in college and she was a second year senior. I joined the Priory right after she graduated and became the Head of the Order last year."

"You just decided to drop by for a class reunion?" Dean snorted.

Will looked thoughtful. "No, my wife had a vision." Dean shifted uneasily. More visions. "I was planning on contacting Vera again, but with the Coms and this situation..." Will broke off, looking hard and angry for a moment. "I wasn't going to let the Orders take anything more from her or let any of you become pawns. I wish I would have known sooner. Believe me, this might seem bad, but you have no idea how bad it could be. I can't make the Coms leave, they've claimed the territory and they are the first Order in. I threatened to go to war against the Coms if Vera died or if they removed Jay from the farm unless you agreed." He nodded towards Dean. "I also negotiated welfare visits so you had someone outside the Coms who knew what was happening here and could represent you at Conclave if it was needed."

All of these Orders seemed to have two or three reasons for everything they did. "So what do you get out of this?"

The Head of the Priory of Nyx sighed. "I can see you don't understand. Dean, I owe Vera and her current students and family a debt. Vera was my teacher, my first teacher. When I was about to lose my mind due to my untrained abilities, she sought me out and told me what was happening. I'd probably have been dead long before now if it wasn't for her."

Will was a small, but self-assured and obviously strong and healthy. It sounded like what Vera had been doing for Sammy. Dean felt a surge of hope. Nora said they'd all have a chance to heal and be whole again, even his brother. "And Vera is Sam's teacher; she's saved his life twice now. She knew she might die yesterday, but helped find him anyways. I decided to take care of Jay, I wanted to promise her, but I didn't have the time."

"Do you understand now?" Will nodded sadly.

Dean swallowed. "Yeah, we'd both do anything for Vera."

"Maybe not anything," Will laughed; "but pretty damned close most days."

Jason came in with a tray of food and left it on a desk before retreating. "So what are my options here?" Dean snagged a cookie and nibbled it nervously.

Will's voice called his attention back. "Not too many. Jay is underage and Sam's untrained. Add the fact that they are the only ones who can heal Vera, there's not much we can do. They have us by the short hairs. I'm here to provide any support I can legally give you and monitor for any signs of abuse or torture." Will raised his hand to stop Dean from interrupting him. "They're saying Jay's injuries are due to him resisting. I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about that. The Coms can do just about anything to keep him in their custody. Jay needs to stop trying to fight them. He won't win."

Dean wished Sam was here with him. All this legal talk, he didn't understand half of what Will was saying and he was talking to him as if he should know all this already. He felt like he was about a heartbeat away from a rage. "So you are saying we just have to take whatever the Coms give us, and let them ship us all to Hawaii?"

"That depends. Now, I need your version of what is happening here." Will's look was suddenly penetrating and Dean knew he couldn't bullshit this guy.

"Okay, but that's going to take a while."

Dean touched on everything he knew; meeting Jay in Chattanooga, killing the Uktena, his broken ribs, finding refuge at the Rice's campground, Sam losing control of his abilities and seeing Katie Wyler, meeting Nora, Vera, Rattler and Ravenmocker. The last name caused Will to grunt in recognition; apparently his Order had dealings with whatever Ravenmocker was. The Head of the Priory waved for him to continue.   
They heard running steps and Sam burst into the library looking around wildly for Dean. As soon as he saw him he rushed over to grab him. "You okay Dean? I could feel you getting angry, what's wrong?"  
Dean was so surprised, all he did was wish for Sam to be there and here he was! He quickly reassured his brother. "I'm fine Sam, I'm not hurt; but I'm glad you're here. I was just telling Will what's been going on here."

Sam looked at the other three men suspiciously, "Who's Will?"

Will and the other two men got up to introduce themselves. After they made introductions, Will sat down and asked Dean to continue his story. Sam listened intently, he had missed most of these events and no one had found the time to give him details.

Dean explained how he and Sam came to move in, Jay rejoining him, his arrest which led to the Coms coming to Wake County, the demons, Deputy Martha Ayers and Old Rattler being slaughtered, being made a deputy sheriff. Sam just about choked, he looked at Dean in amazement, "You're a deputy sheriff?"  
He winced at the disbelief in Sammy's voice. "Well Spencer needed someone to go find you and Kathy Wyler. Especially after the Comacines kidnapped the only search and rescue person in the county!"

If things weren't so serious, the look on Sam's face would have been funny. Geek boy looked confused and stunned; and Dean suddenly noticed he had bed head. Stifling a nervous giggle, Dean continued with telling them about Vera's premonition of her own death in detail, how she knew someone had broken into her office, Joe joining them, the Coms firing on Vera as she began her Circle. Sam looked angry but then he got that curious blank look on his face. Damn it, that thing Ben put into his head was working again. Dean rushed to finish the story of the chaos last night after the Circle, Sam being healed, Jay beaten and Vera left to die. The Stargills nearly being kidnapped by the Knights. As he wound down, Dean was shocked to realize most of this happened yesterday and today.

After he finished, Sam sat there brooding, looking partly guilty and partly furious. Will was silent for a long moment. "That woman continues to amaze me even after keeping tabs on her for about 20 years."

Dean's suspicion flared up again, they had been watching her? "I get being a secret society you couldn't keep in touch, but why didn't you recruit her? She would have had some back up here."

Will's gaze looked beyond Dean and out the windows overlooking the garden. "I tried to get the Order to when I first joined, but one of our most powerful seers said no, she had another path. I just became Head of the Priory a little more than a year ago. I've been trying to get settled in before I contacted her. Many of her former students joined our Order, but they all had to cut ties with her when they did."

"Ouch. That's nasty." Dean actually flinched; he knew what it felt like to be abandoned. "No wonder she didn't want to take on Sam as a student." Sam looked guilty again.

"No," Will agreed, "it hurt her a lot, I'm sure." It was obvious that Will was speaking from his own guilt now and not responding to Dean's comment about his brother. The older man seemed to snap back to the present moment. "There are other things we need to talk about, what do you know about the Laws?"

"Laws?" Dean looked at him blankly; Sam leaned forward with an intense look on his face.  
As Will began his explanation, it became obvious that everything seemed to hinge on him and Sam becoming a recognized Line. To be recognized he had to inform a Conclave and they voted on it. If you got a majority vote, presto, you were a recognized Line. The Conclave which sounded like a convention for Hunters and Guardians was an annual event that took place one week before and one week after the Winter Solstice.

Sam's expression was one of rapt attention but Dean's was totally blank. Will stopped citing paragraphs of the Laws and told Dean to just start firing questions at him.  
Dean's mind was whirling, so he took a breath, "Okay, what do you mean the Coms have claimed this territory as the first Order on the scene?"

"In cases where a Guardian can no longer defend their territory, due to injuries or age, the first Order or Hunt Line that arrives in their territory can take over their duties for up to six months. That's what the Comacines have done.

"The problem is that legally, there is no recognized Guardian Line here. Unofficially, the Comacines and we acknowledge Nora Bonesteel's right to claim this territory since she was acting in the Guardian capacity for all her life."

"What is the procedure for becoming a legally recognized as a Line?" asked Sam, he had found some paper and a pen and was busy writing everything down.

"There are two ways. First, you must notify the Conclave that you want to be considered by the Autumn Equinox or you can have an Order put a petition on your behalf before the Conclave without notice. The only problem here is that you can't put a petition before the Conclave when you are under the Com's jurisdiction."

Dean groaned, this sounded like a Catch-22 situation. There was nothing he could do but Will did say an Order could petition for him.

As the thought struck him he looked at Will hopefully. "Any Order? Or does it have to be the Coms?"

"Any Order, but we'll probably have to fight the Coms over it."

Dean snorted in disbelief, "You actually think the Coms will petition for us? They seem to like us under their thumb too much." Sam's head jerked up and he looked at Dean surprised.

Will actually laughed. "With the Coms it is a matter of honor."

Honor. Dean had not seen much of that among the Coms. The exceptions seemed to be with their younger members. He didn't want to debate their ambiguous morals and ethics. There were more practical matters to consider. "So what are my chances of getting approved?"

"How old are you Sam?" Will asked.

Sam caught the implications and looked relieved, "I'm 22."

"Then you should have no problem getting approved. It's the Kestersons and Stargills that will have problems. The underage members of an established Line are protected. The age of majority is 21. Any psychic under 21 that is not part of a Line is vulnerable to forcible recruitment. Many in the Conclave would vote against them in order to have the chance of recruiting Jay and Kayla, Jay especially. He has a very rare and powerful ability.

Sam stopped writing and looked intent, "So you are saying the Comacines can legally keep Jay until he turns 21?"

Will looked irate. "Yes, I've requested that he be transferred to my custody after Vera is healed but I doubt the Coms will let him go. Hopefully your Line will be approved and he can come home in December."

Dean rubbed his head in confusion. "Wait, I'm missing something here. Even if I become the head of an established Line how does that help Jay or the Stargills?"

"There is a way around it. You can have their unrecognized Lines merge with yours once your Line is approved.

"Does that have to be approved by the Conclave too?" Sam asked.

Will's grin suddenly looked diabolical and Dean could see political intrigue was his specialty. This man was an assassin, thankfully he was Vera's former student or he would be very worried right now. "No. It's a little known clause that hasn't been used in over a century. I've had our legal experts working on it since last night."

Sam wanted to see a copy of these laws and Red Dog dug one out for him.

The newly christened Hunt leader suddenly yearned for the simpler years when all he had to worry about was break, enter, kill and leave with the usual rounds of grave digging and bone torching. Another random thought struck Dean. "This six month business, if this was January instead of August, what would have happened to us since the Conclaves are only held in December?"

"Then it would have been open season on your underage members." Will looked serious, as if he was trying to impress Dean with the level of danger that the young psychics faced.

Dean's jaw worked, he thought he'd ought to be grateful for the Coms protection, but then again if they hadn't showed up in the first place...then Sammy would be a tortured, insane wreck…but Vera probably wouldn't have been hurt and Jay wouldn't have been all but tortured himself… Dean felt a little guilty, but he was glad that Mike had healed Sam so much, even if Vera was on the verge of dying. Even Jay being tortured was worth - he cut off that line of thought. Not for the first time that day he had to fight the impulse to just throw Sam and Jay into the car and flee. "Well I hope it goes smoothly at the Conclave. Is there anything else I should know?"  
Will shook his head, "That about covers it."

Sam had fallen asleep over his notes and the Laws book. Dean looked back to Will, "Is that normal?"

Will nodded, "Considering how much healing he's had, yes, absolutely. Do you think Jay will be up to meeting with me?"

"He fell asleep quickly after Elizabeth healed him, so I don't really know how he is. Hopefully he'll be up to a meeting, but not an interrogation. I really don't want you asking him more questions about what happened."

"No, no, nothing like that," Will assured him, "Just curious. I need to check Vera now. Where is she?"

"Just across the hall," Dean got up to lead the way.  
Dean quietly opened the door to see Mike reading while sitting at Vera's bedside. He looked up and his face twisted. "I hope you paid attention to your hygiene this morning Woodfin, the slightest germ could finish her off."

Will's face split into a malicious grin. "Mikey! I see you're in top form today. Decided to put her back together again since you almost killed her?" Dean glanced at the short, pale man, almost stunned by the venom in his voice.

Mike stared at Will insolently with a disaffected coolness, "You heard wrong, I didn't throw her into a chunk of stone."

"She was in the middle of an exorcism, which she was rushing through while you were shooting at her." Dean would have been nervous with that much malice and viciousness directed at him by the head of a supposedly powerful Order, but Mike looked unconcerned, although Dean could see an undercurrent of anger in the healer.

The healer gently touched Vera's wrist. "If you really cared about her, you'd stop projecting so hard, can't you see she has no shields! She's feeling your," his voice became gently taunting, "concern for her."

Will twitched and took a half step towards Mike. "You need to leave."

Everyone in the room was startled by an eerie, spitting hiss from Shade, who slowly rose to her feet and arched her back, her hair standing up stiff along her spine. The black cat's ears were pinned back and her eyes slanted and distorted, her nub of a tail bushed out into a perfect ball of hair. Dean stepped back involuntarily and reached for the gun he didn't have, for a moment he wondered if another demon had gotten in and possessed Shade. 

"Fine, but only because Rad said I have to." Mike's snarl was almost as frightening as Shade's. "You so much as disturb my patient and you'll hope her cat finishes you off by the time I get to you." The healer turned and dramatically stalked from the room, making a point of gently closing the door, as if to rebuke Will for losing his temper. Shade calmed down but still looked unhappy and watched all of them intensely.

Will ignored Mike the second he closed the door and slowly moved to Vera's bedside and looked down at her for a moment. Finally, he reached out a hand and gently touched her cheek. Dean suddenly remembered he could communicate with her and quickly moved to her side, touching her hand, trying to let her know who was here and reassure her, keep her from being frightened. She moaned and mumbled; nothing he could make out. "It's okay Vera; Shade would have scratched their eyes out if they were doing something bad to you."

Dean almost stopped Will when he moved the light blankets and gown aside to expose Vera's bare ribcage. He laid a light hand there and closed his eyes, Red Dog resting a hand on Will's back. Dean suddenly recognized the look on Will's face; it was the same as Mike's when he was working on Sam last night. A wild hope erupted in his chest, Will was a healer too?

Vera began to stir and mumble again, but Dean quickly tried to calm her, afraid her agitation would interrupt Will. "Relax Vera, you can tell me later. I'm not going anywhere. Sam and Jay are fine."  
Vera mumbled a little more before going still; it seemed as if she had fallen into a deeper sleep, but her color was a little better.

"Dean, no one else needs to know, understand?" Will shook his dark hair as he stopped healing and slowly straightened from where he was leaning over her. 

"Yeah sure. No problem. Can I thank you? Can't you take over here?" The new Hunt leader was desperate, hoping for a way out from under the Comacines.

Will smiled tiredly. "I'm not nearly as strong as Mike; I don't even have half his ability. I can speed things up a little over the next few days, that's why I insisted on coming myself instead of just sending a delegation. Yes, you can thank me; just don't be loud about it. No one outside the Order knows, except for maybe Vera."

Dean smirked; glad he had a secret from the Coms. This was better than nothing for Vera. "Thanks," he whispered, feeling like a smart ass, "from all of us. Are you going to be around for awhile?"

"Not too much longer, but I'll be back at odd times. I need to speak to Atin about a few things." By the look of Will's grin, Dean had the feeling that the times he would be turning up were going to be very odd, to say the least.

Ruby Wyler was worried as she drove in from the hospital in Johnson City to the sheriff's station. A message had been left on her cell voicemail to report to work in the morning. She wasn't supposed to take over as dispatcher for Kelly Stargill until the end of this month. For the past few days all kinds of weird things had been going on, then her cousin Kathy had been kidnapped, raped and beaten. Ruby's hands clenched the steering wheel. She'd love to have fifteen minutes alone with those two sons of bitches and a shotgun. She'd start at the crotch then work her way out from there. The Good Lord may have said turn the other cheek, but the Bible also said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

The entire Wyler clan planned to thank the Winchesters and Kestersons for saving Kathy. Word was all of them had been hurt looking for her. She heard that Wake County folk were helping out at the farm. The Wylers would have been there before now, but they had to see to Kathy first. Pulling her car into the parking lot of the station she hit the ground sprinting, worried about Kelly's sudden absence. Was something wrong with the baby?

Ruby slowed as she reached the station doors and found Spencer and LeDonne looking serious and grim, their eyes bloodshot. Ruby winced in sympathy, everyone these days seemed to look tired and grieving, and with good reason. Ruby could hardly wait for this summer to be over; it was the worst in her entire life. Things just had to get better.

"What happened? How's Kelly?" Ruby blurted out.

LeDonne and Spencer exchanged a look, like they were trying to decide what to tell her. She almost threw the phone on the desk at them. If she was going to be filling in for Kelly, they shouldn't keep secrets from her. Damn it all, she'd already heard and believed more of Kathy's story than most of the county.

Spencer just looked at her for a moment, like he was trying to see how many teeth she had without opening her mouth. "I'll let Joe tell you."

The new Hunter looked surprised and then shrugged. "You might want to sit down."

What Joe told her made a lot of sense. There were stories in her momma's family, whispered when no one was around, about her several times great grandfather, James Douger. He had been a circuit preacher, riding a route over the mountains, preaching to small communities that didn't have a minister of their own. The story was that some of those traveling preachers did more then just minister to the souls of those small communities; they protected them from ghosts, demons, and other evil spirits.

Grandpa Douger sounded like these Winchester boys, traveling and killing the evil and unnatural. The Kestersons sounded like some of his kin, who lived over in Virginia, close to Tazewell. Hezekiah Douger, also known as Old Rattler, was a distant cousin.

Ruby waited patiently for Joe to finish. "The Winchesters, the Kestersons," she asked "they're Hunters?"

Joe raised his eyebrows, looking at her, actually, really looking at her for the first time, like he was remembering something. "Yes, they are, and I've joined them."

"Who says if you're in?"

"Are you planning on joining us?" Joe gave her an uneasy look.

She smiled like a shark. "Who LeDonne?"

Spencer flapped his hands. "I'm having nothing to do with this," he declared and suddenly found work to do in his office.

Joe scowled after Spencer and folded his arms. "How old are you? Are you a psychic?"

He turned his glare on Ruby, who had thrust her chin out, her light blue eyes glinting. "I'm 20, and I have a bit of the Sight. My family's been here a long while now."

He ignored the implied insult. "Then you should be safe enough. There are lots of these secret societies. According to their laws if you are under 21 and a strong psychic they can forcibly recruitment you."

"Great! Good to know." She was barely paying attention to Joe. "Now who do I see to sign up?"

Joe shook his head, defeated. "Dean Winchester, he's the hunt leader." 

Ruby was half out the door by the time Joe finished. "See you in the morning!"

Time to go find Cousin Maryanne. She was most likely still at the hospital with her sister Kathy. Then they'd go find Dean and tell him he had two new Hunters joining him. The Wyler women were tired of being supernatural punching bags. Besides, sounded like the Winchesters and Kestersons needed some help with these Orders.

Emma was getting more and more worried. She hadn't heard from Vera in almost a week. Jay had called her Saturday to tell her Vera was sick, but she hadn't heard anything from the farm since then. She had left messages both on the house phone, Vera's cell and tried calling her at the library. Beulah Greer could only tell her that Vera was sick, same as the message Jay had left Saturday. She had called a little while ago and a stranger answered and tried pretending he was Jay. When she called him on it, he'd hung up on her. She was beginning to feel frantic as she dialed again and left another message.

"Vera! Pick up the Goddess blessed phone! Last I heard from Jay was that you were sick. Jeremy's mother died earlier today. Sahba and Jeremy need you to help bring his parents' bodies home. Damn it, we need you!" Emma could feel her voice breaking. The coven had managed their dream of owning their own farm; but now it was all falling apart. Jeremy was injured and his parents killed in an auto accident in France, her daughter-in-law was struggling not to lose her baby, and now Jay and Vera were missing and strangers were in their house.

She was about to call the Wake County sheriff's station when the phone rang, the call display showing the farm's number. Emma answered quickly and with relief.

"Hello? Vera?"

An unfamiliar male voice answered. "Uh, hi Emma, this is Dean Winchester. Has Vera told you about me and Sam?"

Almost an hour later Emma hung up, shaking. She had spoken with Dean Winchester and another man named Atin Lono who promised to have someone help Jeremy and Sahba in Paris. Now Emma knew why Vera wasn't returning her calls. She didn't know if she was mad at Vera for agreeing to teach this Sam Winchester after promising not to take anymore students or relieved she was still alive. She should have known better than to leave Vera alone, she should have known she'd get herself into trouble without someone there to keep her head straight.

After sitting and watching her two-year-old grandson Jimmy playing, Emma decided she had to go home. Tonya's sister could come and stay with her through the rest of her pregnancy. The farm had been invaded and Vera was hurt. She stood up to make arrangements for the flight back home and to pack.

Sam dozed comfortably, loosely curled around Jay, who was sleeping deeply. Pascal had found him asleep in the library and helped him back upstairs and to bed. Sam was in that soft, fuzzy world of not-quite-awake but not really asleep, either. He was content to nestle comfortably in bed, close enough to feel Jay's body heat, enjoying the reassuring snuffles of Star playing with his hair.

He'd heard Pascal come get Dean a while ago; he worried about him for a moment before reaching out through their link and touching him. Ever since he woke from his ordeal he found that all he had to do was think of his brother and he could feel Dean's emotions as strongly as if he was touching him. Sam relaxed; Dean was frustrated, but otherwise fine.

It was disconcerting, sorting through two sets of emotions, but despite the addition of Dean's unsettled emotions, his brother was still the touchstone of his life. Sam knew he could count on Dean to be a rock of stability when he needed him. Sam curled a little more around Jay whose emotional well being was tenuous. Sam hoped by taking care of Jay it would take some of the pressure off of Dean.

Sam felt himself drifting, when suddenly he saw an old, tar-paper shack at the base of a steep hill, a small stream nearby, the beauty of the scenery highlighted the poverty of the pitiful hovel. A black-and-white Border collie dog, matted and hungry looking ran to him and Sam suddenly thought of Jay…

…Dean, bare-chested and barefoot, wearing only jeans, cradling a newborn baby to his chest, looking stunned, the infant still covered in blood and mucus from his birth…

…he felt himself on a horse, two young women and another guy with them. The two women looked vaguely familiar – he thought he may have seen them around town. The guy, very young, short, dark skinned and dark eyes and stocky. They were running from someone, urging their horses over a rough trail…

...Shade lying still next to a wall, her head twisted at an unnatural angle...

…Vera, in a long, flowing black dress, her eyes literally on fire, tiny sparks snapping out of them to make pin prick burns on her cheeks. _Ka wahine ai honua_ …

…Dean again, on a plane?

"Sam?" He heard an unfamiliar voice hesitantly calling his name. "Sam, are you awake?" When Sam opened his eyes he wondered for a moment if he was still dreaming. The strange young guy from his vision was standing close to the bed.

"Sorry to wake you. I'm Zip, one of the Comacines. There's a call for you, a lawyer. He says his name is Zek Phillips and he's calling about the Douger estate. I'm sorry, but you need to come down to the kitchen to take the call. I, uh, fried the cordless this morning."


	23. Truth & No Consequences

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 24: Truth and No Consequences**

**Summary:** All the farm's residents get laid. Except for Vera. Poor Vera.

FROM: Your story, DIA

Hey Dude,

Come on give me a break, 23 chapters and I haven't gotten laid yet? A guy's gotta have fun; of course you've surrounded me with women old enough to be my mother or grandmother. Not only that but I haven't been to a bar, had a drink or hustled pool in months. What the hell are you turning me into, a geeky emo boy like Sam? At least you gave me a cool cat. And I have to start upholding the law now? Next thing you know I'll be respectable. Help! Someone save me!

Oh, and one more thing. If Sam starts brooding again I'll tell Griffin to go shred your print out of the next chapter.

Dean

FROM: Re: Your story, DIA

Alright, alright, you get laid this chapter. Just don't blame me for the consequences. As for hustling pool, I'm sure Spencer doesn't want his shiny new deputy with mad Hunter skillz pissing off the local good 'ole boys and getting shot before he finished his first week on duty. Oh, and you're getting sick pay, so don't bitch. Wait until you can get out to Clinton Highway in Anderson County. Believe me, you'll fit in just fine and make more money than you know what to do with. If you want beer and a game of darts, go out with Atin to the Mockingbird Inn. The Gods know he could use a break too!

As for Sam, do you really think I have any control over him? I'm constantly afraid his huge ball of angst is going to eat Star.

atanablackfox

Sam lounged on the bed in his room, intently reading the copy of the laws that Will had given him. Jay was curled next to him, drowsing while watching the television that one of the Coms had brought up. LaShonda had given Jay some pills to take, and he'd calmed down as they took effect. Sam found his free hand wandering over Jay's head and neck without him consciously thinking about it. Whatever Jay had taken must have lowered his inhibitions a bit; he occasionally made pleased noises in the back of his throat. The dark-haired Guardian's body was warm and his hair surprisingly soft. Sam found himself wanting to let his hands wander over more of Jay, to explore him in a way he'd never explored another man's body. That Jay was so vulnerable and pliant right now didn't help. Sam bit his lip at the growing bulge in his jeans, hoping Jay didn't notice. Sam was a little disturbed by his current attraction to Jay. Part of the reason he wanted so badly to strip him and touch every part of the younger man's body was that he was so helpless right now. The bruises on Jay's body didn't do anything for him, but the fact that Sam would undoubtedly be in control and safe did.

Safe. Maybe that was it, he would be safe with Jay

The memories. He didn't have nightmares about the demons and he didn't find himself shying away from physical contact, but he remembered. He knew what had happened to him. Sam shuddered at the thought, causing Jay to look up. He just smiled and rubbed Jay's neck a little, trying to get him to settle. The younger man's head dropped back against Sam's side after a moment.

Star looked up at him sleepily as well, her large blue eyes regarding him steadily for a moment before she yawned widely, giving him an eyeful of her mouth of tiny fangs. Sam was continually amazed that his small, cute familiar was really a mini-predator that wouldn't show her prey any mercy. Maybe there was a lesson there.

Sam was still afraid of getting hurt, physically, empathically, mentally. Jay was injured, unable to defend himself and was no threat to him. Not that he thought that the man currently snuggling up to his side, making sleepy little noises would ever hurt him, but right now he could be sure. Having sex made you so open, so vulnerable; especially being psychic. Sam allowed one of his large hands to cradle the back of Jay's skull for a moment, remembering how gently Jay had rubbed the back of his head during that first, slow kiss when Jay was trying to train him. The Guardian's kiss and caress had been so sweet, so encouraging without being demanding. He'd allowed Sam to pull away from him with no rebuke, just understanding.

Jay would let him be in control with no protest. Sam needed that in a lover right now.

Sam glanced at the clock, disappointed to see that it was almost time for Jay to help heal Vera. He reluctantly gave Jay one more caress before withdrawing his hand and giving the book he was reading his full attention. The next section was about the laws governing the relationships between Orders and Lines, so Sam pored over it intently. He paused at one of the clauses. No, that couldn't be correct. Sam went back to the beginning of the section and read it again, stifling a curse.

No wonder the Comacines had been so quick to kill Vera. All that would have happened if they were caught was that they would pay a fine. Just throw money at their colossal mistake and move on. That was why they'd been so careless, Mike had been so careless. They wouldn't have to account for Vera's death in any realistic way. The fine would only apply if the Kestersons were recognized as a Guardian Line.

He stared numbly at the book for a moment, reinforcing his shields, trying not to disturb Jay. It must have not worked very well because Jay was blinking at him again. Sam smiled at him. "Don't worry about it; Dean's pissy about something. Just rest; I'll go see what's up with him." Jay just rubbed his head against his chest before Sam slid out of bed to head downstairs.

Sam held himself tightly as he stalked down the hall, restraining his fury. He stepped stealthily down the stairs, knowing who he wanted to corner. He briefly considered finding Dean, but decided that this was between him and Mike. The healer almost killed Vera to save him.

His quarry was eating a quiet dinner in the dining room; Pascal was refilling his glass with iced tea like a waiter in an expensive restaurant. Mike didn't acknowledge the younger Comacine, but smiled when he saw Sam.

"Sam!" Mike sounded lighthearted, like he was greeting a favorite nephew. "Feeling better?"

He glared at Mike, knowing his scowl was as effective as his 'puppy dog' eyes. Pascal took one look at him, sized up the situation and dashed back into the kitchen as quickly as he could without spilling the pitcher of tea. "You were in charge last night. You ordered Vera killed." Sam was proud of the fact that his voice was level, but rather low in range.

The healer looked surprised; he put down his fork and pushed away the plate. Sam was savagely pleased to see him looking down at the table for a moment. "Yes, I did. It was a mistake."

"That's a hell of a mistake." Sam could feel his voice vibrating deep in his chest.

Mike finally looked up at him. "Yes, it was. We'll make up for it as best as we can."

A shout finally fought itself free. "She looks like a corpse Mike! Why isn't she any better?"

The object of Sam's fury took a deep breath. "Sam, why don't you sit down? Want anything from the kitchen?" Mike half turned in his seat to summon Pascal.

"No, I don't have much of an appetite and don't change the subject." Sam clenched his fists at his sides. "Why did you heal Dean and me but not Vera and Jay?

"You could have died last night, or been permanently scared or maimed." The healer's eyes begged for understanding. "Jay will recover with time. I didn't realize he was a booster when I healed you. I knew I didn't have enough to heal both of you, so I chose you. We still weren't sure if Vera was a Guardian or a necromancer."

"I don't care about scars; I have plenty already." Sam took a breath and tried to calm himself. He didn't need to do any more damage to the house. Being telekinetic without much control was a bitch. "A necromancer?! You think Dean and I would hang out with a necromancer? We kill ghosts for a living, remember?"

"We didn't know Sam," the healer pleaded with him, his dark eyes and tanned face taking on an expression of entreaty. Sam could tell his face didn't often take that look. "We were afraid she was manipulating you somehow, especially with your abilities going rogue. You would have been easy prey for something like that. Someone who knew what they were doing could have you totally under their control. We see it far too often."

"And Dean?" Sam asked belligerently. "He's not psychic, and he's not easily fooled either." Sam felt himself go blank for just a second and knew that Ben was helping him again. He could feel a little of the empath through the link. Ben was concerned but didn't want to stop him from confronting Mike, still, Sam expected him to show up any moment. Until then, Mike was going to listen to him.

"We had to be sure you and Dean were safe."

Sam shook his head. "You must think we have shit for brains. We were fighting demons yesterday, not revenants."

"As I said Sam, we didn't know, and we didn't have much time to decide." Mike sounded like he was becoming angry himself. "Vera Kesterson is hurt, but she'll recover."

"I still don't see how you could have thought Vera was a necromancer who was controlling the demons. Just what do you people go after anyway?"

Mike seemed to be struggling for control himself. "We normally don't go after creatures at all. We deal with humans."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked blankly, taken aback. Humans? There were plenty of supernatural creatures that needed destroying.

"We deal with rogue psychics, like you. Teach them; keep them from unintentionally hurting others. We also hunt down and detain psychics who misuse their abilities. Some we retrain, others we imprison, and a few we have to execute. We help known Hunter and Guardian Lines, give them aid when they need it and help new ones get established"

Sam barred his teeth and snarled, stepping back out of disgust. "You're assassins." He felt sick, exactly what were the Comacines?

"Sam," Mike sounded tired now. "We very rarely ever have to execute anyone. I won't apologize for having to do it at times. We keep people safe. I know you would never abuse your ability, but what would you do if you found a very powerful psychic who used their abilities to harm and manipulate others?"

"You didn't give Vera a chance, you just decided to kill her without even trying to find out the whole story. Who are you to play God?" Sam's voice raised angrily, his nostrils flaring.

"What if you couldn't help them?" Mike's face was stiff again, and demanding. "What if they thought it was their right to use others however they wanted? That they were above other people because of their abilities? What would you do then?"

"I'm not here to debate my morals." Sam said in a quiet, tense voice. "The fact is you tried and convicted Vera on no evidence whatsoever."

"It was a mistake. We're only human." Mike sounded like he was only grudgingly admitting this.

"Why were you so eager to condemn Vera?" Sam insisted. "She saved my life twice in the past week."

The healer actually looked regretful. "Several of our members were bound by a trap she set. We found evidence of blood magic in her ritual room. Jay ran from us on sight. You and Dean were missing, and there was a serial killer in the area. The murders started about the same time as she moved here. Then we found out you had moved in with her right before you disappeared. What were we supposed to think? We also knew Jay had been involved in stealing human remains."

"Trap?" What the hell happened while the demons had him? He thought Dean had told him everything. "What are you talking about?"

"She set up magical traps in the library. We went there looking for her and some of us sprung them when we used our abilities. She bound some of our most powerful members without us even laying eyes on her. Now do you understand why we thought she was powerful enough to be controlling you?"

Sam frowned furiously, puzzling out Mike's answer. "Library? You mean her office? It has protections on it. You broke into her office and set off a trap?"

"Yes," Mike hung his head, looking ashamed. "We couldn't find you or Vera, so we went there trying to get information on both of you, to see if she was hurting you."

"You went to her office to get information on us?" Sam shook his head at their presumption and stupidity.

"What if she was about to sacrifice you? If we had saved you, would you be quibbling about a little breaking and entering? I know you and your brother have done more on less information."

He snorted, "What did you possibly expect to find in a public library?" Sam shook his head. "A Human-Sacrifices for Dummies book?"

Mike's voice was rising. "It was her office, not the stacks, Sam. You're amazingly naive for someone who was raised hunting."

Sam was furious; the healer was speaking to him like he was a young child. "Just how much 'field experience' do you have Mike?" Sam had overheard the other Comacines quietly talking about how Mike should have never been in charge of this team.

The older man shot to his feet, glaring at Sam over the table. "I'm old enough to be your father and been with the Order since I was four. I've seen a lot of destructive psychics, necromancers, and black magicians - things you haven't dealt with!"

"How many black magicians have you personally taken down Mike?" Sam raged right back at him. "Seeing something and doing something are two different things."

"I heal, Sam." Mike's face contorted. "I take care of the people that they leave behind, their victims. I'm the one who has to put them back together. I see their tortured faces after we take the bad guy down, I'm the one who sees their shattered lives and ruined bodies. You think just because I'm not in the field often I don't deal with these people? The field workers have the easy part - they swoop in, save the victims, destroy the bad guy and get the 'atta boys'. I get the hard part, seeing the wrecks they leave behind."

"So you have no experience investigating black magicians, you have no experience finding them, tracking them, predicting their next move? You think all Dean and I do is run into a situation blind and shoot everything in sight? Field workers don't exactly have it easy either." Sam's volume was rising along with Mike's. The conversation was spiraling into a full blown shouting match.

"Maybe, not, but I'm tired of the victims being forgotten while the field workers ride off into the sunset. And I don't think you'd be bitching at me if I had been right! I also don't hear you bitching about being alive."

"Assuming we live that long." Sam's eye was twitching, stung that Mike thought what he and his brother did was easy or didn't come with its own price. "I don't do this to be hailed the conquering hero either; most people haven't a clue what we're doing."

Atin stepped quietly into the room, "This ends now. Vera doesn't need to be getting anymore panicked than she already is."

The second time Vera woke up there were more people in the room with her. She blinked at the ceiling for a few moments, trying to remember again when another strange face came into view. It was a warmer and friendlier face then the last stranger she saw. Mike? Was that the doctor's name, the man she had seen earlier?

It was another man, dark skinned with deep brown eyes and loosely curly hair. His smile didn't hold any of the strange, selfish and possessive pride Mike's did. She felt his relief and joy at seeing her awake.

"Hey you," he said softly, stroking her cheek. For some reason the warmth of his hand made her relax. Vera managed to smile a little at him.

"I'm Atin, I don't know how much Dean was able to tell you, but you're going to be fine. It will just take a while."

For some reason she believed Atin where she doubted Mike. "Jay?" She hated the way her voice rasped.

The face above her smiled. "He's a little beat up after last night, but he's up and around. He'll be here to see you soon."

Vera blinked, confused. Did Dean tell her the same thing? Was the last time she woke up real? "Sam, Dean, are they…"

Atin quickly interrupted her, but Vera didn't mind, she was still so tired. "They're both alive. Sam's been healed."

"That doctor?" The priestess felt a vague wave of annoyance from him.

The feeling quickly passed. "Yes, that was Mike Jensen. He's a doctor and a healer; he and Jay will be here soon to do a healing session."

She tried to look past Atin and out the door as she heard familiar footsteps in the hall.

"Vera awake?" That was Dean, praise the Gods. He still sounded cocky and aggressive. "I brought Jay to see her."

Her breath caught in her throat and Atin touched her neck, concern written across his face.

"Jay?" She was proud of how strong her voice sounded for a moment. Her nephew was still alive. Jay, oh, thank the Lord and Lady…

Suddenly another face was above her, but it took a second to recognize him. "I'm here Aunt Vera."

How had Jay gotten so hurt? He was bruised, swollen, his lip split in two places, his wrists were ringed in bruises and scrapes. He held himself strangely. What had happened to him?

She tried to get up, to sit up and hold him, forgetting that she couldn't.

"Vera, Vera!" Atin's voice was stern, calling her attention back to him. "Look at me, stay still, Jay can come to you." She blinked a few moments; it felt like she'd lost a few seconds.

The priestess turned her attention back to Jay; she'd figure it out later.

"Jay," she didn't try to hide how her voce cracked. "You're okay?"

Her nephew gave her a patently false smile, "I'm fine Aunt Vera, as you can see. How are you feeling?"

She thought about that for a moment. "Strange. All these strangers here; no one's told me who they are." She rolled her eyes to Atin in an unspoken question.

Atin responded. "Don't worry about that right now, just see your son -- your nephew."

She saw Jay shake his head like he did when he was disgusted with someone. "Never mind them Aunt Vera, do you remember what happened?"

"Yes - the ritual last night. Demons, people shooting at us. What happened?" Her anxiety was mounting again. "Why won't anyone tell me?" Vera suddenly realized that Jay was trying to distract her, lead her thoughts away from something. Brat. Her voice dropped to a whisper, trying to get Jay to understand. "Who are all these people? Why won't Dean tell me anything? What's wrong?"

She blanked out again for a few seconds and suddenly she could see Dean, too. "They're like Guardians Vera, only they guard psychics instead of a territory."

Footsteps, and then another vaguely familiar voice. "Ready Jay?" Oh, it was Mike; his voice sounded very tight and clipped.

Suddenly she felt herself slipping away. She struggled against the drugs but lost in the end.

As Atin watched Mike and Jay begin to work on Vera, he wondered if it was possible to fall in love with someone who was spending most of her time unconscious.

Dean rubbed his face wearily. He had tried to keep Vera calm; she knew they weren't telling her the whole truth and that was making her anxious. Seeing Jay briefly before Mike healed her only made her mental state worse. The young Guardian looked like hell and of course she was demanding to know what happened. Dean had to interrupt before Jay blurted out the whole, unvarnished truth of the situation. Even flat on her back, unable to move and her psychic abilities haywire, Vera was still a pain in the ass.

Then Ruby and Maryanne Wyler, Kathy's cousin and younger sister, showed up on the doorstep, shotguns in hand, demanding to see him. Zip came and got him, apparently thinking the young women wanted to thank him for rescuing Kathy. No such luck. They were distantly related to Old Rattler and one of their common ancestors had been a circuit preacher and Hunter. After asking them a few questions he had to admit he was a little impressed. Apparently they had reputations as a couple of hell raisers. Ruby was 21 and slightly psychic; and he thought Maryanne, who was 17, might be a ground. Dean decided it would be easier to just train the two of them and make them part of his team rather than tripping over them all the time because they weren't going to take no for an answer. God knew he could use another ground around here.

So Dean put them to work, salting all the doors and windows, which they did cheerfully and without argument. Now if Jay would just follow orders as well. Dean had to stop himself; that wasn't fair. Ruby and Maryanne hadn't been through everything Jay had. The young women finished up the task and left for the evening. Maryanne told him her parents wanted to see him soon, which left Dean feeling uneasy. He wasn't used to hanging around the scene of the crime after he was through with a job.

Any doubts he had about Ruby and Maryanne disappeared when Atin gave him a lecture on accepting new members so quickly. Atin had caught Ruby making out with Pascal in the ritual room less than an hour after she joined. Atin told him that Ruby had been absolutely shameless, not bothering to hide what they were doing and took her time adjusting her clothes. She then chewed Atin out about rudely interrupting them and made it clear she and Pascal were going to be an item and she didn't give a damn what he thought.

Dean had to grin. Sounds like the Wyler women were going to fit in just fine.

Now, was it 10 o'clock yet?

Pascal felt like things were beginning to turn around for him this evening. He met Ruby. He remembered her, or one of her ancestors. It was hard to tell. He had such strong memories of his past life as Jonas Bonesteel; he seemed to know many of the locals. When Ruby showed him her 'fairy cross'; Pascal had another confusing welter of memories and visions. He'd found the fairy stone himself, set it in gold and gave it to her as a pendant…No, wait, Jonas had found it and given it to her…That wasn't right either. Jonas had given it to Sarah Douger. That was it.

Then none of it mattered anymore when Ruby pushed him up against a wall.

He kicked himself when Atin came in and caught the two of them. It had been awhile since he'd seen any action other then his hand. He winced when Ruby bitched Atin out for 'disturbing' them.

After Ruby left, Atin had forbidden him to date that woman. So much for any fun on this mission. He wondered why the field-promoted team leader had come looking for him and wanted to speak to him privately. He knew they had been considering his punishment. His nerves were frayed and he tried to clamp down on his shields. He guessed he wasn't doing a very good job of it since Atin gave him a sympathetic look before he spoke.

"Well, this went all the way up to Mistress Tudor. First, you're being demoted and transferred to my new team."

Pascal's first reaction was relief. He didn't care about the loss in pay; he knew he'd get fairer treatment from Atin than from Greg. "Yes sir."

"Secondly," Atin continued, looking like he didn't really agree with the punishment, but he had his orders, "you are on probation for five years. No marriage, no children."

Pascal blinked; a little stunned. "Yes sir," he said automatically. He wasn't dating anyone seriously and now with his standing with the Order at an all time low it wasn't as if he was going to be getting any dates anytime soon either. People in the Order had long memories, he'd be lucky to get a date twenty years from now let alone five. The only woman who expressed any interest in him--Ruby--he was forbidden to date. For a reckless moment he thought about throwing himself in front of a bullet the next opportunity he had.

"Also," Atin continued, "you're spending the next year as Jay Kesterson's servant."

That derailed Pascal's grim thoughts. Was this the Order's way of making things up to Jay? As if. "As you wish sir," he replied, "Shall I have my things shipped here?"  
"I need to talk to Jay and Dean first. They will let you know how much of your stuff you can have brought here." Atin smiled encouragingly, "You'll be going to Hawaii and the Conclave with Jay, of course."

Pascal's eyes widened, being a junior member he wasn't on the roster to go the Conclave. He had been there as a child with his parents of course, but that had been a while ago. "Yes sir. Was that everything sir?"

Atin actually winked at him, "Last of all, somewhere in all that paperwork you accidentally ended up with a raise." He rolled his eyes, "don't tell Mike. Or anyone else for that matter."

Pascal was shocked, he wasn't expecting a raise. "My lips are sealed sir." He wondered how Jay will be as his "master" for the next year. "Do you want me to talk to Jay? Or are you telling him, sir?"

"Let me talk to Dean first. Just let Jay think you're his guard for now."

The light from the nearly full moon was streaming in the windows of the carriage house. It was bright enough to see Cheryl leaning up against the Impala. She was wearing a t-shirt and shorts with an ankle holster. Dean was surprised at how much her ankle holster turned him on. He raised his eyebrows a little. "What's with the gun?"

Cheryl's dark-blue eyes glittered in the moonlight. "I may be off duty but I still have a responsibility to protect the Hunt leader."

Dean leaned to nibble Cheryl's ear, "I never had a bodyguard before."

"You haven't had me...yet," her voice was eager and suggestive. Dean was surprised at how willing and excited she already was.

Cheryl couldn't help but notice how amazingly hot this rugged Hunter was. She knew he wouldn't have any unrealistic expectations with his reputation for 'love 'em and leave 'em. After everything that had happened in the past few days they both could use a little tension relief, and Cheryl had made it a personal rule not to sleep with any of her team mates. It made things too complicated. She discovered that the hard way. She had broken off her engagement to Billy Ray almost two years ago. It was awkward seeing him again. She knew Dean was a womanizer but that was exactly what she wanted. No ties, no commitments.

Opening the back door she slid across the leather seat, leaning against the opposite door. "Let's get more comfortable. You need to get off that ankle."

Dean was amazingly turned on; it had been far too long since he'd gotten laid. He followed her into the car quickly shutting the door behind him.

Cheryl reached for the hem of her t-shirt stripping it off quickly. Dean's eyes were eating her alive. He reached for the clasp of her front-closing bra and snapped it open with a practiced twist. His hands fondled her breasts, thumbs rubbing her nipples into stiff nubs before pinching them lightly. His gaze flickered from her breast to her face, checking her reactions as he bit his lower lip.

It had been far too long, Cheryl could feel her groin tighten and the wetness was flowing already. Impatient, she pulled back to unzip her shorts, pulling away from Dean's caressing hands. She was breathing harshly and it sounded far too loud in the Impala's back seat.

Dean was surprised when she moved away so suddenly, wondering if she changed her mind. But when he saw how eagerly she was stripping off her shorts, his body started responding to the sight of a topless woman flushed with excitement. This girl was in awesome shape, all muscle and hot for him. He hurriedly took out the condom from his pocket. He always kept a box at the bottom of his duffle bag.

Cheryl was already naked while Dean fumbled with extracting the condom from its wrapper. This would never do, he was still dressed. Damn, he was out of practice. Cheryl popped open the button on his jeans and unzipped him. Finally Dean got with the program and shimmied his ass helpfully while she stripped the pants and boxers down to his knees, effectively trapping his legs.

Dean loved the sight of a naked woman kneeling on his back seat. There was enough light to enjoy the view and he didn't know where to touch, lick, kiss, nibble or suck first. Her breasts were large, but firm and pert and he never knew thigh muscles could be so erotic. Dean let his hands find her breasts again for a moment before ghosting down her taunt stomach to massage her thighs.

Cheryl smiled, Dean was well endowed and she leaned over to lick the trail of moisture leaking from the tip. She'd forgotten how good it could taste. Dean groaned, his hands caressing her hair in encouragement. Dean couldn't believe he had a woman going down on him so willingly in the back of the Impala.

She took his length in her mouth and his head flopped back, "Cheryl," he grunted, his hands tangling in her long hair. Dean struggled not to buck into her warm, wet mouth. Her tongue was swirling around the head of his cock as she sucked gently, occasionally teasing him with a scrape of teeth. Dean grabbed the base of his cock. The last thing he wanted to do was come before he got her off. She stopped, seeing he was getting close, and expertly rolled the condom on.

She regarded his ankle for a moment, and then said, "It might be easier if we did it this way."

In one quick move, she straddled and then impaled herself on him. She was so wet; he was buried in her with the first thrust. Dean grabbed the base of his cock again just in time as his eyes almost rolled back into his head. He moaned deep in his chest. Damn, she was so tight it almost hurt, the walls of her vagina clenching around him. He wondered for a brief moment if Cheryl was a virgin. No, she was too familiar with a condom. It must have been a long time since she'd gotten laid too.

Cheryl placed one hand on each side of Dean's head gripping the back of the seat. Then she began riding him. The pace was slow at first as they explored each other's bodies with their hands and lips. Dean reached around her and gripped her ass for a moment before letting his hands drift back around to her hips. He ducked his head slightly and leaned forward to nuzzle her breast. He was rewarded with a loud groan from Cheryl. Dean then pressed the heel of his hand against her mound, giving her sensitive clit more stimulation. As much as Dean wanted to grab her hips and slam into her, he couldn't. He couldn't brace both feet on the floor board to thrust up into her because of his throbbing ankle. Dean was trapped under Cheryl as she rode him.

Cheryl quickly realized she had basically captured Dean under her. She gripped his shoulders tightly, feeling empowered as she fucked him passionately. His groans, grunts and sighs under her were so hot. She realized that Dean was offering her something special. No other man had ever let her be the dominate one. Cheryl recognized that Dean was a generous and confident lover. She looked deeply into his lust-darkened eyes as he licked his swollen lips. He tilted his head back, exposing his throat to her. Cheryl took the invitation and leaned in to nip and suck his throat and shoulder, leaving small marks. Then she bit and sucked a spot just under his right collar bone, marking him and giving him a memory of her temporary ownership.

The temperature in the car seemed to have soared. Her skin was hot and smooth under his touch, slick with a fine sheen of sweat. The back windows were steaming over. The fact that this amazingly strong woman was fucking him was turning into one of the best quickie fucks he'd ever had. Dean had never been with a woman this sexually aggressive before. It was fucking amazing. He wished he could draw this out, but it had been too long, he was close to the edge and if the heat and wetness of her pussy was any indication, so was she.

"Dean," she hissed through clenched teeth, rocking through her climax. She squeezed him so tightly it triggered Dean's own orgasm. They shuddered against each other, causing Cheryl to scream as a second orgasm quickly followed her first. For a moment Dean clung to her, the sweat of their bodies mingling as she lightly scratched his back before pulling away.

Carefully, Dean reached down to hold the base of the rubber while Cheryl moved off him. She didn't rush to get dressed immediately which Dean appreciated. "So, am I forgiven?" she smiled sweetly.

Dean realized they had never even kissed each other on the mouth. Everything had happened so quickly. He pulled her into his embrace and kissed her slowly enjoying the taste of her. She moaned into the kiss like she couldn't get enough. 

Finally he broke away, "I may need more convincing later." He could no more stop the smirk on his face then he could keep Sam from being a geek-boy.

Her gaze was direct as she licked her lips. "Then I'll have to try harder next time." She dressed as quickly as she had removed her clothes before, then she began helping him get dressed. "What?" she said to his surprised look, "I'm your bodyguard remember? You are still unarmed; I'll talk to Atin about that. I'll see you safely into the house." Dean grinned; this was a first, a woman walking him home.

A flash of movement put them both on alert, but soon a white shape emerged from under the front seat. Griffin. Dean let out a breath and Cheryl relaxed putting the gun back into her ankle holster.

Griffin's eyes were glowing brightly as he jumped into Dean's lap; he looked quite pleased with himself, like he was the one who gotten laid. His purrs inside the car sounded louder than normal. "Glad you approve," Dean said stroking the soft fur. Cheryl laughed. Dean decided he liked the sound and wanted to make her laugh more often. Damn, where the hell did that come from?

Griffin rubbed his head against Cheryl's hand. She had saved the priestess's life with her time bending. He knew she took her responsibilities seriously and would protect his human with her life. He was content with his human's choice. It had been a successful mating.

Ravenmocker grinned evilly, a strange sight for a Being of Light. Then again, Ravenmocker had always been a law unto himself. The Thrones never rebuked him, so he saw no reason to change his ways. He watched gleefully as Dean and Cheryl enjoyed one another. There was a soul ready, waiting and willing to be born to the two of them.

For once the Comacines were making things easy for him. The Comacine team leader had sabotaged all of Dean's condoms and the Healer was going to force a conception. Soon, the next generation of the Winchester line would be born. He spared a brief moment of concern for Cheryl, she was just as much a pawn in this as Dean, but he would protect her as well as he could.

The Principality knew Sam eventually wanted a family, and Jay's future wife was right under his nose, he just had to wait for her to grow up.

It was only natural that Ravenmocker would be so concerned with the procreation of the Winchester, Kesterson and Stargill lines. He was a Principality, after all. The more Guardians and Hunters in his region, the easier it made his job.

Sam spooned Jay protectively; feeling daring. He let his arm curl around Jay's chest, careful of his bruises and sore muscles. He wondered when Jay might feel up to a little more physical affection. Damn, how could he be so horny after everything that happened?

Suddenly he knew what Dean was doing; one of the Comacine women? Sam had a sudden flash of the Impala's back seat. His brother and that damned car.

The problem was Dean's state of mind certainly wasn't helping. Between his own desire and what he was feeling from his brother, Sam had a growing hard on that he needed to do something about.

He bit his lip and let his hands drift over Jay's chest, reaching under his flimsy t-shirt, his fingers instinctively going to his nipples. Sam let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as Jay slowly came awake and moaned. Sam ghosted feather light touches over hardened nipples and Jay whimpered deep in his throat.

"Harder," Jay begged. Sam could feel him shifting slightly to reach a hand down his shorts.

Sam laid a firm hand on Jay's arm. "No." Sam was a little surprised at how level his voice was. "Stay still." He pushed Jay's underwear down to his knees and slowly traced his hands up his thighs and to his rapidly swelling cock. Sam flung the covers off of them, wanting to see Jay in the bright moonlight streaming in the window.

He noticed that Jay had very little body hair. Even his pubic hair was sparse and if Sam didn't know better he would have thought that Jay shaved. Sam swallowed at the sight of his cock. It wasn't especially large, but it was well shaped and graceful, matching perfectly the rest of Jay's body.

Jay's cock twitched and wept under Sam's gentle touch; he was so afraid of hurting Jay. He cupped the younger man's balls, rolling them in his hands, intently listening to the soft noises Jay made. Sam took a great deal of time just petting Jay the way he'd stroke Star's ears: slow, soft, enjoying the feeling of warmth. He watched in fascination as clear fluid beaded at the very tip of Jay's cock, gleaming in the light. Sam let his large hands drop back to fondle Jay's testicles and then nudged his legs apart slightly to tickle the soft skin just behind them.

A slow, feral smile spread across Sam's face at Jay's sharp cry. He tried to grasp his own cock again but Sam stopped him, holding his arms briefly. "No," he whispered again into Jay's ear. "You stay still, don't touch yourself, don't touch me."

Jay sobbed, and for a moment Sam was worried, but then he realized he could reach out with his empathy to Jay. The younger man was frustrated to the point of tears, but not from pain. He was willing to continue, but he wanted to come and soon.

Sam paused just long enough to shuck off his own shorts and pull off his sleep shirt before stripping Jay as well and turning him gently onto his back. The Guardian just closed his eyes, whimpered, and knotted his hands in the bed sheets. Sam felt an almost overwhelming wave of affection as he watched Jay in the light of the almost full moon. Pale, vulnerable, sweating lightly, his cock glistening with pre come. He reached a hand out and touched Jay's cheek, wanting him to see him.

His eyes fluttered open, pupils blown wide and lips swollen. Sam licked his own lips and then leaned in for a kiss, letting his tongue slide into Jay's mouth, enjoying the slightly sweet taste and texture before pulling away. He carefully straddled Jay's thighs, mindful of his bruises and sure not to put any weight on the slender body beneath him.

"Please," Jay pleaded quietly, his hands straying back to his cock. Sam just shook his head and carefully grasped his arms. "No. Tonight you're mine." Understanding glimmered in Jay's eyes as he just nodded and closed them again.

His hands explored Jay's body more fully, stroking his hair and face. Sam leaned in and licked Jay's neck, nibbling, nipping softly, noticing his skin was a bit rougher than the women he'd been with. He moved down slightly, letting his tongue and lips caress Jay's chest until he reached his straining nipples again. Jay trembled slightly as Sam licked, then sucked, then nibbled lightly at the tender, pebbled flesh.

"Harder, please!" Sam loved the sound of Jay begging him. That meant he was in control, he was the one deciding what Jay felt, how he was touched. He looked down at Jay's cock just in time to see a pearl of pre come at the tip of his cock swell and break into a rivulet down the side of his crown. Sam felt a throb through his own groin and pressed the heel of his hand at the base of his own cock to keep from coming. He wasn't through with the trembling body beneath him.

Sam leaned in close to Jay's ear and licked it before whispering "no." He straightened up, towering over him and he softly touched the young Guardian's cock again, stroking him with his fingertips, keeping him on edge. Jay was openly sobbing now as Sam gently pinched the tip of his cock, rubbing the sensitive skin between his fingers. There was pre come dribbling down both their cocks when Sam guiltily realized he was being border line sadistic with all of his soft touches. He was giving Jay just enough stimulation to keep him hard without the satisfaction of a firm stroke. Sam finally grasped Jay's cock, giving him a couple of full strokes before stopping. Jay actually screamed in frustration, obviously not caring who heard.

With quick but deft movement, Sam lined up their cocks, taking them both in his two large hands before rubbing quick and hard against Jay. It didn't take long before the younger man gave another strangled shout before coming all over his hands. The sight and feel of Jay's hot and pearly come made Sam lose it. With a roar of his own he spurted until his hands were covered in their mingled come, making their cocks slippery with their hot essence for the last few strokes.

Sam stopped himself from collapsing into Jay, but just barely. He hovered over him, elbows braced on either side of Jay's head. After he recovered somewhat he looked down to see Jay smiling widely and got the feeling that he was overjoyed. It took him a moment to realize that Jay's wasn't just happy he'd gotten laid. He was also thrilled that Sam trusted him enough to be intimate with him, that he could be intimate with anyone right now. With a smile of his own he kissed Jay before carefully moving off of him.

Sam used the shirt Jay was wearing to give each of them a quick wipe up. He turned on the bedside lamp to be sure there wasn't a wet spot before throwing on some jeans.

Suddenly Star was there, and Sam blushed a little at the thought of screwing in front of his very young familiar. Star didn't seem to mind, though. She was now intensely interested in the come all over Jay and he was trying to wave the kitten off. Sam couldn't help but laugh as he swept his small familiar into one hand and held her against his bare chest.

"Stay put," he ordered before leaving to get a warm, damp towel to finish cleaning Jay, taking the overly curious Star with him. In the hallway he saw Pascal sitting in a kitchen chair, obviously guarding them. He just gave Sam a nod of acknowledgment, but definitely looked embarrassed like he was trying to hide a wet spot on his crotch. Sam couldn't help but smirk.

A little later, after they put their night clothes on, Sam curled back around Jay, he was glad to feel the younger man drift off into a relatively untroubled sleep. He examined his own emotions. He cared about Jay, maybe even could come to love him. But this wasn't permanent, it wasn't forever. Jay had given him something very precious and he would never forget this night. He snuggled the young Guardian a little closer, wondering when Dean would come in. Sam kissed the back of Jay's neck, listening to him murmur to him, half asleep. This might not be forever, but Sam knew it was going to be for a while; they both had a lot to share and teach each other before the romantic part of their relationship changed into a deep friendship.

High pitched, anguished screams from downstairs quickly shocked both of them out of their doze. Jay shrieked himself and was heading for the door before Sam could stop him. Sam cursed, the young Guardian had to stop panicking before he got himself or someone else killed.


	24. Chapter 24

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 25: Segmenting and Reuniting**  
**Summary:** Sun Tzu is back, baaaaaby!

Sam pushed his damp hair out of his eyes. He wouldn't admit it to Dean, but he needed a haircut. There wasn't a lot of talk in the Range Rover as they slowly bumped their way over the washboard dirt road, splashing a thick and liberal coating of mud halfway up the doors. The sun was slanting into the small valley, making the dark green leaves of late summer look brilliant, like they were about to burst out into the colors of fall, which was just a month away.

It had been a rough night. Both Zip and Jay had freaked, which of course set Vera off. By the time everyone was calmed down half the night had gone. Sam had caught a few hours of sleep before Zek Phillips, the lawyer handling Old Rattler's estate came to pick him up to see what he'd inherited. Ben came along as well, if anything looking more tired than Sam. The Comacines had their own drama last night when Zip flipped out over something, started screaming and had to be sedated after a fight with Mike. He asked Pascal about it afterwards, seems that Zip had a flashback but wasn't sure of the details since he wasn't exactly in the loop and Zip wasn't in any shape to talk about it. From what he'd heard, Ben had to break up a fight between Zip and Mike. Every now and then there was a soft snore from the back seat, though Sam couldn't see how anyone could sleep while being rattled around like they were. Well, except maybe Dean. His brother had stayed behind. He had watched over Jay all night and Sam didn't think he'd gotten any sleep at all.

After climbing a tall hill, Rattler's home finally came into view. They'd been driving over parts of Rattler's property for a while. No, Sam corrected, it was his property now. The young Winchester shifted uncomfortably. He'd only met the old Guardian once, but he was leaving him everything. Zek Phillips, who may have known the old man's motivations, was quiet and obviously grieving himself; Sam couldn't muster up the nerve to intrude on his reflections by asking deeper questions.

All Sam could do was sit in the car and stare out the windshield for a moment. Old Rattler's home was nothing more than a tar paper shack with a wide porch. There were no telephone or electrical lines; there was an outhouse a little beyond the front gate and he thought he saw a well behind the shack. Rattler had lived like it was two hundred years ago, not the 21st century.

Zek and Ben got out of the car, and stood quietly to one side of the porch, obviously waiting for him to collect his thoughts and join them. As Sam got out of the car and began walking towards them he stopped, stunned. Before him was the exactly one of the scenes that had flashed into his mind in the vision he'd had yesterday, but the dog wasn't here. Sam looked around, confused, the vision had been so vivid, why was he seeing a part of it, but not all? Why was he suddenly worried about a dog he'd never seen? He found himself studying the surrounding tree line and meadow, but there was no movement or sounds other than the birds and the lazy drone of bees searching the wildflowers.

Nothing was said as they entered the one room shack. It was as if they were all entering an ancient, long forgotten shrine. Sam was amazed by the reverent expression on Ben's face, but he didn't spare him more than a second thought, he had more important things to think about right now.

The shack had a rough plank floor, an old bed with a beautifully carved headboard, a woodstove, and a table and two chairs. Bundles of herbs hung from the rafters. On shelves along one wall there was a series of small wooden carvings, roses, chains, Nativity scenes, wolves, owls, bears and other animals. Each one was a miniature work of art. There were several things laid out on the table, one of them a gorgeous handmade quilt in an interlocking ring pattern. It looked like a masterpiece. Guiltily he remembered that Vera had given him the one off her bed.

"He left a note for you," said Zek after Sam stood there for awhile, tracing the patterns of the quilt with his fingers, finding an occasional small lump sewn into the batting.

"He did?"

Zek handed it to him; it looked like Old Rattler knew he wasn't coming back.

It was barely literate, but basically it said that Rattler was proud to leave his land to Sam and asked him to never sell it, but keep it for his and Dean's Line. Rattler had also written that the items on the table were gifts for members of the new Lines and left it to Dean to decide who received what item. The only person he gave something to specifically was Vera; he had underlined several times that the quilt was for her. Sam felt a chill when he read that she 'needed' it.

Sam blinked a few times and scrubbed his face with the back of his hand, "Okay, I'll sign the paperwork."

Ben patted Sam reassuringly on the back and turned to Zek. "I'll be glad to take care of any inheritance or property taxes. Here's my card."

Once Sam signed the papers, he looked up to see a dog standing in the doorway and smiled broadly, some of his sadness lifting. "There you are. I was wondering when you'd show up." The grown dog gave a puppy yip and trotted to Sam, tail wagging.

Ben looked up in surprise. A black-and-white border collie was sniffing Sam's hand. His coat was matted with mud and twigs; he looked like a stray. Ben petted the top of his head while worrying about rabies. He almost said something when Sam knelt down on one knee, giving the dog's ears a good rub while he tried to lick his face.

After a few moments, Sam murmured, "I think I know who you're looking for." He looked up slightly to give Ben a brief stare. "He's coming back with us."

All of the Comacines had quickly learned how peculiar the Winchesters and Kestersons were about animals. He just shrugged, indicating that he was letting Sam have his way.

Sam sat in the backseat on the way home, stroking the dog and thinking how much Jay needed a familiar right now. An old friend of Jay's showed up with Will late last night and it was Jay's turn to freak. Will had said he'd be making surprise visits to be sure the Comacines were being honest. From what he had been able to figure out, Jay had met Leah at a Christian summer camp his mother forced him to go to when he was a kid. Seeing his old friend, who was now working for the Priory, seemed to tip Jay over the edge. He had a total meltdown and tried to run. Atin was going to tag Jay but Dean convinced him to let Elizabeth, the Priory of Nyx' empath, do it. Sam was worried Jay would fight the tag like he did the handcuffs and rip his mind apart. Jay was asleep when he left, but he hoped that the dreams he's been having meant that this dog would be Jay's familiar. The young Guardian really needed one right now.

Dean was happy to see Jay eating some breakfast when he came downstairs after a nap. He'd been up most of the night, watching Elizabeth "tag" Jay while he grounded him. He still was clueless on how this grounding business worked. Elizabeth encouraged him that he was keeping Jay calmed. Dean didn't know how that could be when he felt like he was barely holding things together himself.

His words to Vera only a few days ago were rattling around his head like an accusation. When Vera was refusing to be a Guardian, he'd said to her, "How'd you feel if you needed someone to help Jay and they wouldn't?" His words were coming back to bite him, hard. Now it was up to him to help Jay and he was the only one who could. Vera wasn't in any position to fight the Comacines or play politics with these Orders. Despite her freezing up during the search for Sam and killing the demons, he knew that Vera could deal with all this conspiracy crap a lot better then he could. Sammy probably could too with his ginormus geek boy lawyer brain, but he was still a little messed up too.

He scowled as Pascal served him a cup of coffee and asked what he wanted for breakfast. If the young Com wasn't being Jay's shadow he was running the kitchen. It still chapped his ass that the guy was in trouble for saving Vera. It was obvious that they were making Pascal the scapegoat for their mistakes. He was being punished by being made Jay's bodyguard/servant for the next year. Jay was horrified when they told him; he kind of liked Pascal and was angry at first, then seemed to have decided to make things as easy as possible for him. Dean had the strong suspicion that the Coms were doing this to create another level of control over Jay. If Jay didn't do what the Coms wanted then Pascal would be punished for it.

Thinking about punishment Dean remembered with a jolt Jay's court appearance next week. He glanced across the table, watching Jay picking at his eggs and making small talk with Pascal and Zip. Through the open doors to the dining room he could see Elizabeth's frizzy head tilted down towards a book. It was rather obvious that Jay found her very existence a sign of his failure and she was trying not to attract too much attention to herself. Griffin was getting more of Jay's breakfast than the young Guardian was. Dean couldn't help but smile at Griff's polite but eager expression as Jay began crumbling his bacon.

Since the kitchen was the Grand Central of the house, Dean just stayed put and waited for the Comacine he most needed to see to appear. He was almost through with his breakfast when Atin came in to check on Zip, who was rather subdued and sitting on the floor playing with some of the cats.

"Hey Atin, we need to talk." No use in wasting what little diplomacy he'd learned on him. "Next week is Jay's court hearing and he needs to be in Chattanooga."

Dean knew Atin was tired, like most the people here, but he didn't expect him to look that confused. "I thought we already took care of that. Does he have another charge we missed?"

"What do you mean you took care of it?" Dean noticed Jay look up sharply at both of them. "I thought you were convinced Jay stole those bones, convinced enough to want to kill Vera."

"No, the charges were all dismissed." Atin shook his head. "We took care of it as soon as we knew he was a Guardian."

He glanced at Jay whose face was blank with astonishment, and then back at Atin. "How did... Why would you do that?"

The Comacine team leader stared back at Dean for a moment. "We take care of Guardians and Hunters who get into legal trouble."

Dean felt like he'd been hit in the back of the head with a board. "You do?"

"Yes, that's how we found you." Atin jerked as if he just realized something important. "When you were arrested it showed up in our database, actually Zip found it. We sent the team in to get you out of jail, be sure you were safe, see if Sam was still alive and give you any help you needed. We didn't know about the demons or the murders until we arrived in Wake County. We knew you were legally dead and wanted in connection to some murders, so we got here as quickly as we could to cover things up before things went much beyond the county level."

Jay looked between the two of them, breathing deeply. It looked like he was trying to keep from crying again. Dean didn't know how he had any eyeballs left or hadn't keeled over from blood loss between his bruises and bloodshot eyes. Before all this went down he'd have considered him weak for being so emotional, but Dean found himself becoming a bit more compassionate. Right now that compassion was turning into anger for Jay's sake. "Dude, you were going to mention this when?"

"We just thought you knew - but I should have realized you couldn't have." Atin grimaced a little, looking like he was kicking himself.

Dean was about ready to tear his hair out, getting information out of these people was like trying to get Sam to quit brooding. "Listen! Just assume that we don't know a fucking thing about you people, because we don't!"

Atin spoke to Jay rather than answering him. "I'm sorry you've been worrying about it. The paperwork is on its way here, a messenger with our Order picked it up in Chattanooga this morning."

"So does this mean I'm not going to prison?" Jay asked in a weak voice, wavering slightly on the stool he was sitting on.

"No Jay," Atin's voice was gentle as he looked Jay in the eye. "It's all over and your record is being expunged. Now that we know you we'd never let you go to prison for fulfilling your Guardian duties."

Dean shook his head, trying to keep his temper. "What we've got here is failure to communicate. Jay's been stressing about this for days, you could have told him Monday and maybe he wouldn't have…" He stopped short. Damn it, he knew how losing it last night made Jay upset.

Jay just stared at the table for a moment, and Dean could almost see the warring feelings of relief and shame for losing control on his face, then realized Jay was struggling for control of his empathic ability again. Elizabeth looked up from her book, but Jay didn't 'blank out' the way Sam did when Ben was helping him. Dean reached across the counter to lay a hand on Jay's arm, but the young Guardian stood up abruptly when he saw what Dean was doing and went into the sun room, obviously wanting to be alone. Griffin scrambled off the table to go with him. Zip and Pascal's eyes followed Jay, showing a depth of understanding Dean had yet to see from any of the other Coms and Atin looked ashamed. Elizabeth watched after him but didn't follow; Dean took that as a good sign. He decided to give Jay his space, the sun room was within earshot and Elizabeth would know if he needed help. Even better, Griff was with him. He felt so helpless right now. Dean spun around and slammed his fist into the wall next to the door into the great hall as he walked out, causing a cascade of loose plaster to fall to the floor.

Griffin sat curled on a battered wicker sofa next to Jay. He didn't understand everything that was happening, but he knew the young Guardian hurt and it made Dean happy when he watched him. Starlight came padding in and started to climb up the couch, her claws making popping sound on the wicker until Jay picked her up and cuddled her to his chest. She had just started purring loudly when they all heard a car pull up with a crunching of gravel.

Sam waved, flashing a grin as he and Ben walked past the sun room's window. A strange muddy dog danced around them, yipping. A moment later the back door opened and Griffin and Star went on alert, both on their feet with fur bristling. They didn't know if this dog was just a normal animal or a familiar. Humans could be pretty dense about these things.

Any doubts Griffin had evaporated when the dog bounded into the room. He zeroed in on Jay and thrust his nose into Jay's crotch, smelling him deeply. Dean and his littermate watched from the doorway. Griffin trilled enthusiastically at his human while Star leaped off the couch to get to Sam. She wasn't happy about being left behind while Sam saw to Rattler's estate.

"Hey!" Jay yelped as he tried fending off the collie. "Sam, where'd the dog come from?"

"He found me out at Rattler's place," Sam grinned broadly scooping up Star in one hand.

Flustered, Jay pulled the collie's head up to look at him. The dog's tail was wagging so hard his entire hindquarters were swaying. The dog sniffed and licked Jay's hands, his eyes captured Jay's and time seemed suspended. "Thunder?" Jay asked, feeling a little confused.

The dog yipped in agreement and Jay somehow knew that he had just named him. No, not a dog, his familiar. Overwhelmed he slid off the couch to the floor and hugged Thunder.

Jay let Thunder lick his bruised face while he pulled out the burrs and twigs caught in his long, muddy coat. He could feel how thin the dog was and got to his feet. "Come on," he told his familiar, "I'll get you something to eat. Hey Pascal! Is that ham still in the fridge?"

Atin sidled up to Dean while he was watching Jay ransack the fridge for something suitable for Thunder. Obviously Jay thought dog food wasn't good enough, and the collie was thrusting his head into the fridge to check out what was in there. "While Jay is occupied, can we talk?"

Dean snarled at being disturbed; it was good to see Jay happy for once. He grabbed Sam's arm and motioned with his chin to follow them. Dean was too tired to think straight, he definitely wanted his "lawyer" along for any official chats with the Comacine field leader.

Sam looked at Dean annoyed, jerking his arm out of Dean's hand. He hated to be touched abruptly but started to regret his irritation with his brother as he watched him slump into a chair. He'd seen Dean exhausted many times but never looking as burdened as he did now. Even when they had been searching for their father Dean hung on to the hope he'd be found alive, right up until they found the abandoned truck.

"So what's up now?" Dean asked, tiredly. He wasn't looking at either one of them, just sitting there. To the two empaths, Dean was radiating distress; as if he was expecting to hear more bad news.

Atin shifted a little in his chair, "I need to discuss with you where all of you are going."

Dean didn't even flinch, but his eyes regarded Atin narrowly, "Do we get any say in this?"

Sam could feel Atin waffling. "Our best medical facilities are in Hawaii, so that's where Vera and Jay will be going." Sam could feel Dean tense as Atin paused and looked at him, "Sam, we have an excellent training facility in Charleston, which is close by. Dean is welcome to go with you."

Dean sat up straight, his earlier fatigue gone. "When you people first got here, you were planning to ship us all to Hawaii. Why the change in plans?"

Atin was hedging again, eyes darting off to the side, "Sam's doing well enough with Ben's tag, so there is no need to send him so far away. Sam, you'll be fine, you'll come home as soon as Vera does."

Sam could feel Dean's growing alarm at them being split up and his concern for Jay. Dean regarded Atin suspiciously. "Why the change?" Dean asked again, not happy with Atin dancing around the question.

"That was before we knew Vera was his teacher. Look, this is for the best. Vera and Jay will be fine if that's what you're worried about."

Sam reached over to touch Dean's forearm. Dean sighed but didn't pull away. Dean silently communicated with Sam, letting him know he didn't like this. Sam agreed, and Dean had the vague feeling he was concerned about Jay.

"Listen," Dean began, "I have to train Jay. I need to be with him to get him ready for the field."

"We have a pretty good program for young Hunters. After he recovers we'll put him in some classes. He could be finished up with it right before the Conclave. We'll bring him with us so you can see him."

"No. Not good enough. I'm his ground, and he's freaking out. I have to be with him and Sam," Dean insisted.

"Jay will be fine. I'm making arrangements for Elizabeth to stay with him for another week or so."

Dean shook his head determinedly. "I promised Vera I'd look out for Jay, and I'm keeping my word. We're going with him."

"Dean, it's really not up for discussion. We're the only ones that can heal Vera enough to walk again, Jay is underage and we can legally keep him in our custody until he turns 21 or his Line is approved. Sam is technically rogue, so we can legally keep him in our custody as well."

Dean bristled with anger, standing up. "You son of a bitch, we're going with Jay. You don't want to make your Order look any worse than it already is. I'll blow the lid off this whole can of shit if I have to."

Atin's eyes widened, his jaw dropped. "What do you mean?"

Dean growled, "Have you gone stupid? Like hell you don't know what I mean, but I'll spell it out for you in real simple words. You. People. Screwed. Up. I will make your lives a living hell. I'll let everyone know how Mike ordered a Guardian to be executed."

Atin, regained some composure, "Neither you nor the Kestersons are recognized Lines. We didn't do anything illegal as far as the Laws are concerned."

"Says you. I may not be a recognized Line, but I think the other Lines and Orders will believe what I have to say. It will look bad for you, won't it?"

Atin clenched his teeth, it normally wouldn't work, but these are the damned Winchesters. Every time they sneeze at the Conclave someone would notice and discuss the implications. They'd been an urban legend of their own among the Lines and Orders so they'd be the focus of a lot of speculation and attention. Atin looked at Dean, wondering what the hell to do.

Dean looked over at Sam. Sam smiled slightly, touching Dean's arm to let him know he had Atin freaked somehow. Sam also felt smug and proud at the same time.

Dean felt bolstered by Sam's approval and pride. He turned his attention back to Atin, his poker face in place and went for the kill. "All I'm asking is to keep my team together. Do I have to go further up the food chain on this?"

Atin stood up abruptly, "I need to contact Mistress Tudor. I'll be back soon if you want to wait here."

Dean slumped back into the chair, eyes closed; bravado was gone as soon as Atin left. Sam started to say something but then Jay walked out onto the porch with Thunder, obviously excited about his new familiar and wanting to show him off. He opened the screen door and the collie went bounding out into the yard.

Sam stood to watch the dog with Jay. The herding instinct was strong and Thunder quickly corralled the wayward goats into one of the undamaged pens, tongue lolling. Sam went out to close the gate while Jay laughed and praised the dog. By the time Sam came back in the house, Dean was snoring in the chair.

Sam left Jay and Pascal giving Thunder a bath in the downstairs bathroom while he went down to see Vera. He paused in the hallway, looking at the quilt draped over his arm. Sam traced some of the stitching with a blunt finger, remembering how such quilts protected the people sleeping under them. He felt a little guilty, they'd left Vera pretty unprotected. Star started sucking on his earlobe, causing him to shudder. He reached up and caressed her head, causing her to break out in purrs. She was just getting over being left at home and was a little clingier than usual. 

After a moment he tapped on the door of Vera's temporary room and was glad to see LaShonda on duty rather than Mike or Billy Ray. She'd helped a lot with Jay, and he thought her concerned but no nonsense attitude was just right. She smiled up at him as he came into the room, looking tired but alert.

Vera was sleeping, but her color was better and she looked like she was resting well. Shade was sleeping hard herself. He reached out a gentle hand and stroked her ears softly. Starlight clambered down his arm and tumbled onto the bed, snuggling against her.

LaShonda laughed. "That little black cat has been a big help. She wakes us up if Vera needs anything when we doze off. Shade's taken a lot of stress off us; I don't think the poor thing has left for more than a half hour since we brought Vera in. Wouldn't mind having one of these familiars myself."

"They're great." Sam said with a fond smile, looking at Star. His familiar was still very young and spent more time sleeping than Griffin, but he was glad he was getting to watch her grow up.

"Beautiful quilt," LaShonda said quietly. "Wedding Ring pattern. Where'd you get it?"

"Rattler," Sam said softly. He was a little surprised to see the nurse tear up a little.

"I prepared his body for burial yesterday, Nora Bonesteel helped. His funeral will be tomorrow afternoon."

"You did?" Sam asked, shocked.

"Honey," she explained gently, "we may have messed up here, but we take care of Hunters. We're not going to let 'civilians' take care of one of our own. Some of us are going up to hand dig his grave later today."

Sam took a deep breath, feeling even guiltier about not providing more supernatural protections for Vera. "I need to put this over her. Help me? I don't want to pull out any tubes or anything."

"But why, Sam? It'll probably get stained."

He stroked the quilt a moment, thinking how to explain it to someone who didn't believe in magic, then gave up. "Rattler wanted it." LaShonda just nodded, accepting the old Guardian's last request.

Sam smoothed the quilt over Vera as she mumbled a little in her sleep. Rattler had obviously seen something, something so dangerous that the old Guardian was worried about Vera. He wished desperately he had some control over his abilities; what good was all of his supposed power if he couldn't protect the people he cared about?

Jay paused while shoveling horse shit into a flatbed trailer attached to a tractor. He looked up as he wiped his forehead with a wrist in the hot sunlight and noticed a man approaching him. He had an easy stride, black hair flopping into his hazel brown eyes and a lopsided grin. He looked comfortable in a baggy white tee and black shorts.

"Hey," Jay called in greeting.

"Sorry to interrupt your dream." The man's eyes scanned the area nonstop, not wary but curious. "Wouldn't you rather be riding your horse than cleaning the pasture?"

"No, riding is just part of it. It's about the horses, too."

The man grinned, "You take good care of your friends. Thanks for the ham," he rubbed his stomach, "much better than the kibbled food I was expecting."

"You're welcome," Jay smiled shyly.

"I wish I could have come to be with you sooner, but I'm sure glad I'm here now." An uneasy expression crossed Thunder's face. "There's something coming, I'm not a Seer, don't know what, but it'll be bad."

"There is?" Jay asked confused, then troubled. "I thought so - but with these - people - here, I couldn't be sure."

Thunder nodded energetically. "Trust your instincts. Don't let those others make you doubt yourself." Even as a Dreamtime human Thunder acted like his dog form. He was in constant motion, not hyper but active, looking and touching things, examining the tractor, grass, and trailer as they talked.

Jay watched him a moment, then asked, "Why me? And why now?"

"I know you think the Winchesters are a mixed blessing. You're right." Thunder grinned again, his head cocked to one side. "They'll be a great help to you Guardians but they bring lots of baggage. I'm here for when you can't talk to Sam or Dean or even your aunt."

"Blessing?" Jay snorted, "No, more like a curse."

He didn't seem surprised by Jay's revelation. He looked up from his examination of the tractor's dirt caked tires. "So you see no good from the Winchesters being here?" He looked thoughtful. "Do you want me to convince them to leave? I've already walked in Sam's dreams; I made him come and get me. I can chase them off if you want me to."

"No, it'd only be worse if they leave. I mean, I like them – but, things have just been so screwed up ever since I met them."

"That's life with the Winchesters. Now that you've chosen the life of a Guardian, that's your path from now on." Thunder gave another toothy grin, looking pleased with himself.

Jay sat down on the edge of the flatbed trailer. "Great," he said sarcastically, "I'm not sure I want to be one anymore."

Thunder sat next to him; not touching, giving Jay his space. "No one ever knows what it will be like before they get into it. That's part of the reason I'm here--to help."

"I've been thrown out of school, thrown out of my parents' house, arrested, beat to shit and now I'm a prisoner. I'm scared and falling apart. How can I be a Guardian, even if I still wanted to?" asked Jay plaintively.

His familiar looked impressed. "That's a lot to admit, even in a dream. I knew I made the right choice choosing you."

Jay smiled a little sadly, "You're about the only good thing that's happened in the past few months."

"You can talk to me like this anytime, Jay. Not just in dreams but when you meditate too. Just call me, or whistle. You aren't alone in this Guardian business, there's me and there's the Principality for this area. He was the one who told me about you."

"Principality?" Jay glanced at Thunder confused, he'd heard of Principalities before; he was just trying to remember what they were from his studies on mystical Judaism and Christianity. Then it struck him, they were angels or benevolent spirits that guarded a geographical area.

Thunder nodded, "He calls himself Ravenmocker."

"Sam and Dean talked about him," Jay replied, a little resentful. "Why have they seen him and Aunt Vera and I haven't?" Damn it, he and Aunt Vera were supposed to be Guardians and even the protective spirits were more concerned about Sam and Dean. Didn't he and his aunt count for anything?

"He's been a little busy saving the Winchester's bacon; they got some heavy duty enemies in the underworld. He'll be visiting you shortly. Actually," Thunder looked into the distance, "here he comes now. Do you want me to stay or leave?"

"Stay!" Jay was both excited and a little panicked at the thought of seeing a Principality, even though he felt slighted he hadn't spoken to him before.

Thunder morphed into dog shape and put a paw on Jay's leg.

"Hello Pyrite." Jay shuddered, and then realized he shouldn't be surprised Ravenmocker knew his chosen Craft name. It still felt weird to hear someone who was virtually a stranger call him by it. "I am glad to see you and Thunder have finally met." The Principality smiled gently and Jay wondered what he was so damned happy about.

"Yeah, not too sure about the Guardian part." Jay couldn't help but be pissy. If he yelled at the Coms he'd be sedated, Aunt Vera was in no position to listen to him bitch, and he was afraid if he complained to Sam or Dean they might leave him to deal with the Comacines by himself. They'd already booked and left him taking the heat in Chattanooga. Jay knew it wasn't Sam and Dean's fault, but still.

Ravenmocker nodded knowingly. "Thunder is correct; no one can know how it really is until they are in that position. I would have been surprised if you did not have any doubts. It would be, in fact, foolhardy to think otherwise. What is your Guardian instinct telling you right now?"

"I'm fucked," Jay snapped, losing his temper. "And not in a good way."

"What is the land telling you Jay?" The spirit ignored Jay's sarcasm.

Ravenmocker's insistence made Jay stop and reach out with his abilities, what he felt made him shudder hard. "Pockets of it are still out there - the bodies" Jay whispered. "And," he could feel his face contorting into a frown, "something else - something even worse. I'm scared, because it's coming for..." Jay shook his head, trying to both dispel the feeling of foreboding and sharpen his knowledge of whatever this was. "Sam, Aunt Vera - it's just coming."

"Yes, it is coming." The Principality looked over his shoulder, nervous, as if he shouldn't be there. "The horror is not over yet. There is nothing you can do to stop it from happening. Just use your tools, Pyrite, to see what needs to be done beyond it."

"NO!" Jay's feelings of terror coalesced into a scream of denial. "Nonononono! Not again! I can't - why can't I ever do anything!" He slowly slid down the side of the tractor and slumped to the ground, almost in tears. "What's the point in being a Guardian if I can never..." He felt so defeated, so broken, like something had flown apart in his head and chest that he couldn't put back together again.

A warm, sympathetic hand touched his head and slid down to the back of his neck, massaging gently. "Soon enough." Ravenmocker's voice whispered, echoing strangely in the open field. "I wish I could tell you more. Rest for now, I must go."

Jay allowed himself to burst into tears, feeling Thunder licking his face. This was a dream, damn it, he could cry here if he wanted to.

"Jay! Jay!" His eyes flew open as he felt himself gasping breaths deep into his chest. A mass of brown, curly hair floated above him and he groaned. Great, Elizabeth somehow knew he was upset and he heard Ben's voice in the room anxiously asking about him. A warm, slick tongue danced across his face as he sat up and gently pushed Thunder away.

"I'm fine." Jay snapped, wanting everyone out of his room. He wrapped his arms around Thunder's shoulders and glared at Elizabeth and Ben.

Elizabeth backed away, looking a little uncertain. Ben eased around her, his voice taking on that low, soothing tone Jay hated so much. "Is your back hurting again? Need to talk?"

Jay snarled. Ben would be the last person he would confide in.

"Alright," Ben shook his head, "hurting? Feeling anxious? Why don't you take some more of your medications?"

"No." Jay fumed; he didn't want any more drugs. "Just leave me alone. Think you can manage that?" He bit everything else he felt like saying, if he wasn't careful they'd be coming at him with needles again.

He finally convinced them to leave, and the moment they shut the door Jay snatched up a heavy mug off his nightstand and flung it at the closed door. The movement caused his back to spasm and as a result the mug hit the door with a dull thunk then rolled across the floor, denying him the satisfaction of seeing and hearing it shatter.

Jay leaned back onto his bed, Thunder whining and nudging him as he fought off tears, not wanting Elizabeth and Ben to disturb him again. It was pathetic that he couldn't even manage to break a ceramic mug.

Sam sat in the middle of the bed he shared with Dean, the items from Rattler's place spread out over the bed against the backdrop of the multicolored quilt. He ghosted his hands over them, wondering about the old Guardian's thoughts as he laid these items out for him. Dean was supposed to decide who these bequests went to, but Sam decided he would choose his own.

The large, antique bowie knife didn't call to him at all. The blade was at least a foot long with what looked like a carved bone handle and it practically screamed 'Dean'. There were three roses carved out of red cedar and a large horse carved from a deep golden wood. An antique rifle lay on a towel; he didn't want to risk any gun oil getting onto the quilt. There were a few crystals that looked nothing like the ones in new age stores; they were rough, raw, looking like they'd just been dug out of the earth. There were also other rod-like stones in a deep red, blue and green. Huh, he'd have to ask Jay or Vera about those.

It was another stone that caught his eye, intertwined stones in the shape of a cross so perfect Sam wasn't sure if it was carved or natural. His hand hovered over the stone, a feeling of soft warmth coming from it. With a smile Sam picked it up. This was for him. He might be the student of a Pagan priestess, but he knew his faith was in the God of his childhood, that he learned from Pastor Jim. He'd seen demons and now he'd seen an angel, albeit a very strange angel. He couldn't think of any other word to describe Ravenmocker.

As Sam's fingers closed over the stone he knew that no, it wasn't carved, this little stone cross was naturally formed. This was how Rattler found it on his ramblings over his land.

Faith was a wonderful thing and was renewed in the strangest ways.

"Dude! There you are." Dean's face held a harsh smile but he radiated a bitchy smugness as he leaned against the doorway.

"Morning Captain Narcolepsy, nice of you to join the land of the waking." Sam was just glad he was smiling, but he wondered what had Dean in such a strange mood.

"Clever Sammy, clever. A college boy and that's the best you can come up with?" He tisked a moment before getting down to business. "Just talked to Atin and we're all staying together. We're all going to Hawaii and Will and the Priory are taking over here. They're going to start coming in tonight."

Sam paused, not knowing how he felt about this. He was glad they were all staying together, but leaving at all just felt wrong. Jay and Vera's power was at its strongest here, Ravenmocker watched over them here. He and Dean would travel, they were still Hunters, but damn it, this was home now.

Dean's smirk faded. "I know Sammy, I know. We gotta make the best of it for now. After Vera gets better, we're opening a can of ass whuppin'." He finally noticed all the items scattered in front of Sam on the bed, his eyes almost immediately straying to the bowie knife in its worn leather sheath. "What are these?"

"From Rattler's. He left a note, said this was for us and our Line. You get to choose who all this goes to." Sam opened his hand to show what he had chosen. "I'm taking this."

A look of recognition and a ghost of a smile flitted across his face. "A fairy cross."

"What? Dude, what'd you call it?"

"A fairy cross. Don't tell me I know something your geeky brain doesn't. They're found up here, valued as a protective talisman. Both the Wyler cousins have them."

"Oh." Sam paused a moment, Dean was growing, changing in so many ways it was almost hard to keep up with him. He kind of liked it, though; it was almost like Dean was finding his own depth, his niche in the scheme of things. They were both going through some fucked up growing pains, though.

Dean's hand went to the bowie knife, just like Sam knew it would. It was good to know some things would never change; Dean would always go for the largest surrogate penis he could find. After holding the knife for a moment, Dean set it down on the bedside table and reached for one of the roses and inhaled its fresh cedar scent.

"I think he was carving this the day I met him." Dean's voice was a low rumble, Sam nodded, understanding.

"He knew he was going to die Dean. He may have even known then." His brother looked up at him sharply then twirled the rose in his hand by the stem.

"Then this one is for Vera."

Sam smiled. "Rattler wanted her to have a quilt: I've already taken it down to her." Sam shuddered uncontrollably. "His note said she needed it."

Dean's expression sharpened, his brows drawing down over his eyes and Sam knew he'd just snapped into his Hunter role. No matter what else Dean may be or might become, he was a Hunter and protector to the marrow of his bones. If Vera was in danger, then they all were, and Dean had just decided to become very, very dangerous.

Water stained plaster. Not a pretty sight. Vera tried to roll her eyes around, to see the room around her. She heard Shade chirp and then meow pitifully as her black head suddenly popped into view. Her face was assaulted by a raspy cat tongue and when she opened her mouth to protest Shade started licking the roof of her mouth.

"Bleagh! Shade!" Vera might let her familiar eat off her plate, but this was a little too much even for her.

"Damned cat," she heard a voice grumble nearby.

That accent, she knew it. "Alabama," she said aloud, not realizing she was speaking. She felt a wave of generalized annoyance and then a vaguely familiar male face appeared above her, pale skin, broad cheeks and freckles. Whoever he was, he wasn't happy to be here. This man was actually afraid and afraid of her. Considering she was flat on her back and couldn't move this was confusing to say the least.

"Let me take care of her." The voice was firm and rich, the man's presence was soothing and Vera sighed under his influence. Another face appeared above her, this one dark and warm, somehow making her think of cinnamon. His hand cupped her forehead.

"Remember me?" Vera was startled to hear Shade trill at the man.

"No, not really." She blinked a few times, trying to remember. She knew she was hurt, the Circle, and Dean and Sam and Jay…but that couldn't be right. Sam wasn't hurt the last time she remembered seeing him. Today, yesterday, now and tomorrow all seemed tumbled together somehow and she couldn't straighten it all out.

The man nodded, as if he wasn't surprised. "My name is Atin, and you're at home." Atin went on to give her a brief and edited version of what happened after she was injured, repeating things he knew she'd already been told. Vera was relieved, glad to have all the good news of everyone being alive and recovering confirmed for her again.

Atin's hands gently cradled her head, thumbs softly rubbing her temples. "You're going to be just fine." His voice was soft with promise. "We'll be able to take off the neck brace soon and you can move a little. You'll be up and around in no time."

Vera struggled to keep her eyes open. "I don't want to go back to sleep," she mumbled.

He laughed. "You might as well, you can't move and we both know how bored and grumpy you'll get if you stay awake. Your boys are fine; the farm is taken care of, and that article about the historic documents you found can wait."

She was drifting off again, but this time wrapped in a warm, soft blanket and she wasn't alone. Vera knew that Atin was somehow in there with her. As she slid under, she wondered how he knew about the article.

Thus the army is established by deceit, moves for advantage, and changes through segmenting and reuniting. Thus its speed is like the wind, its slowness is like the forest; its invasions and plundering like fire; unmoving, it is like the mountains. It is as difficult to know as the darkness; in movement it is like thunder.

Dean traced his hand over the text. Established by deceit; changes through segmenting and uniting. His 'army' consisted of six people; Joe LeDonne, Maryanne and Ruby Wyler, Vera, Jay and Sam. Vera was injured and Jay had to stay with her. Sammy's abilities were out of control. His most powerful psychics were out of action. Joe was an experienced soldier and cop, but was just learning about the supernatural. Ruby and Maryanne were natural hell raisers and didn't have any experience, but they knew the area and their family was certainly an ally.

Segmenting and reuniting. His crew was getting split up; Joe, Ruby and Maryanne weren't strong psychics and it was obvious that the Comacines thought they were beneath their notice. Big mistake, he and Sam were both dangerous by the time they were 10.

Once the Coms had them in Hawaii they would be cut off. Small island, it would be easy to control their access to the outside world. They seemed to be positively drooling over the prospect of having Jay under their control; who's to say they'd really let any of them go to this Conclave to get recognized?

One thing was clear; somebody had to be there to speak for them.

Dean wrestled with the thought, but after a few moments he had to admit what their best chance was.

He had to send Sammy away to the Priory. College boy was pre-law and he was already studying these Orders legal system. He had to stay with Jay and Vera; they'd both be too vulnerable without him.

Besides, he didn't like the idea of the Comacines training Sam anyways. Like Cheryl said, they were afraid of Jay and Vera, they could do things the Coms had never heard of. He'd heard Jay and the Comacines tying to talk about magic and psychic abilities, and it was like they were speaking two different languages. A lot of the members of the Priory had been trained by Vera, so they could teach Sammy close to the same way she would.

Damn these sons of bitches, he was just now getting his brother back from losing his mind to his abilities, and now they had to split up. Dean took a deep breath and closed the book. Joe, Ruby and Maryanne would be here to hold down the fort, he would go with Vera and Jay to Hawaii, and Sam would go to the Priory, beyond the Comacines' control. Then they'd all come back together at this Conclave. Segmenting and reuniting.

Only problem was how in the hell was he going to keep his plans secret in a house full of psychics?

A notebook hit the wall with a satisfying thwack and Thunder whined. Jay took a deep breath, trying to calm himself and hugged his familiar. He'd done both a Tarot and an I Ching reading and he didn't like what either one said.

Jay had a little seer ability, not enough to have full blown visions like Sam or Pascal. He mainly just had hunches. Supplementing the little ability he had with magic, like using Tarot and other divination tools strengthened his ability.

The I Ching hexagram he'd built had two changing lines. The base hexagram was Childhood, alternating to Keeping Still. Childhood indicated that he should be 'willing to accept education' and in a period of change and growth that was inevitable. He was supposed to be 'humble' to his teacher. Great.

Keeping Still was almost worse. Be quiet, be still, mediate, time isn't good for movement.

Basically he was just supposed to suck it up and wait for things to change.

It was the Tarot reading that almost had him in tears again. His significator or the card representing him was the Page of Swords: vigilance, spying, secret service. Well, he was a sneaky little bastard; even he had to admit that. What crossed him was the Hanged Man; even better. He was suspended right now between two major periods of his life in a kind of limbo. One had ended but the other really hadn't begun yet. Just had to wait it out, it echoed what the Keeping Still hexagram told him. Past; Nine of Swords, worry and insomnia. Present; the Wheel of Fortune, something preordained, karma. This just kept getting better and better.

The next card chilled him; The Tower. Sudden and unforeseen tragedy and adversity. How could things get any worse?

Rest of the reading was just annoying. Five of Cups; basically quit whining, things were better then he thought. Queen of Swords, a widow, a barren woman who knew deep sorrow. In his deck, the Art Nouveau Tarot, it showed a woman clasping a sword blade, her blood flowing down it. Aunt Vera, but close to her was Strength; courage, inner strength and leadership. It was also a hidden or potential strength, like the power of a tiny acorn to become a powerful oak.

What the hell? Two of Cups, a successful marriage or joining, a merger between two things, making them more powerful. Whatever. Jay didn't see how that made any sense in the current situation.

Final result cards were Justice and Death. The Death card didn't upset Jay, but rather made him thoughtful. It was the card of new beginnings, the death of the old and the birth of the new, which fit in with The Hanged Man card. It was also the card of rebirth and Initiation, the great Mysteries. Justice represented vindication, acclaim in a court of law. Jay wondered about that one, too. Did it have to do with the Coms getting his charges dismissed?

Jay had just silently thanked the Gods and was putting his deck reverently away when there was a tap on his door.

"Go the fuck away!" he yelled at the door, not wanting to be checked on, fussed over, offered a massage or talked into taking more pain killers, muscle relaxers or anti-anxiety medications. He knew it wasn't Pascal either, since Atin had sent him off to the store.

The door opened despite his warning. Thunder's ears were pricked forward; he obviously knew who was coming in and was relaxed. It couldn't be a Comacine or Sam; Thunder was tense whenever Sam came near him for some reason. He would have to ask him about that the next time he meditated.

Dean came in and closed the door behind him. Before Jay could speak, Dean started talking in a low and urgent voice. "Dude, this invisibility thing you do, can you teach Sam how to do it and can you do it for somebody else?"


	25. Chapter 25

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 26: Something...**

**Summary:** Dean and the folks of Wake County start a few plots of their own.

Pascal was driving through Hamelin after picking up groceries and other supplies in Johnson City. There were so many Comacines rotating through the area that their needs were putting a strain on the small, family-owned businesses in Wake County. They would buy out almost all of their stock, not leaving any groceries for their regular customers. The van was packed full of groceries, hygiene and medical supplies as well as drugs. Jay was going to love that. Ben and Mike preferred Jay lightly sedated 'for his own good.'

He blinked through a vision, pulled into the first available parking spot in front of Hamelin's only movie theatre, with its only one screen, and saw that according to the poster on the door _The Da Vinci Code_ was showing that evening. Pascal rolled his eyes, if they only knew. Dan Brown was a hack. He was sure the whole thing was another Priory prank. No one had ever laid eyes on 'Dan Brown' and a suspected Priory shell corporation published the book. No doubt they were laughing all the way to the bank.

He got out and wandered down the sidewalk, needing time to think about the implications of his vision. Sam was going to run off to the Priory and for some reason Zip was going with him. It was going to be the first mission involving Dean's entire team. Atin and the rest of his superiors would be furious if it succeeded because the Comacines would lose face with the Conclave. This mission was a disaster enough anyways; all they were really doing now was damage control.

The young Seer could stop all of it though. He could make a single phone call and all the farm's residents would be put on a total lockdown; separated from one another, isolated and under a constant guard. Pascal's finger hovered over the speed dial on his cell phone, but he had mixed feelings. His devotion to the Winchesters and Kestersons because of his past life as a Bonesteel Guardian warred with his present loyalty to the Comacine Order.

Zip. It was obvious he was going with Sam willingly. Pascal could sympathize with his reasons for running. Their Order had ignored Zip for most of his life since he was not considered a psychic, and now they were over-indulging him. With a few exceptions, Order members were paying attention to him for his ability, not because of him as a person. It did not help that they had recently discovered he was actually 16 or 17 years old, not 19. His age was estimated when he was Found since Zip had no idea. They never found his birth certificate, his parents were illegal immigrants and according to neighbors, he was born at home.

It was decision time. Should he call and let Atin know or stay silent and risk being in even more trouble than he already was?

He was already taking the fall for this mission being a disaster. If the Winchesters pulled this off, it would go a long way to re-establishing their confidence. You would have to be a total idiot not to see how demoralized they were.

The longer he was around Jay, the more the Comacines regulations against magic made no sense. He could not explain why he put his cot in the magic room. He slept better. Maybe it was the magic or maybe it was because it reminded him of a church with all the altars, but it felt like a sanctuary to him. His Order had destroyed the sanctity of the farm and he felt that he needed to restore the balance. Pascal shut his cell phone with a snap.

Having made his decision he turned around abruptly to start walking back to the van and almost bowled over Ruby. He staggered back a few steps, both from the force of her walking into him and in emotional shock. He remembered her so clearly, wanted to get to know her so badly in this lifetime. Atin considered her a bad influence and forbade him from seeing her.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at him as if she was being sure he was not growing an extra head.

"I, uh, oh hi Ruby," Pascal saw the drug store behind her, "I forgot to pick up something in Johnson City, good to see you again, I gotta run now." He darted into the drug store, hoping she would not follow. He was attracted to her, but he could not deal with those emotions on top of everything else.

Pascal was in the 'feminine needs' aisle when _he suddenly saw himself standing in the front hall of the farm. A strange shadow leapt towards him..._

Pascal blinked. Ben's face hovered over his looking stressed and tired. Why had he not noticed that before? Why was he on the floor? "What happened?" he asked, looking around confused.

"What did you see?" demanded Ben, fear making his tone abrupt.

Pascal looked from Ben to LaShonda and then Ruby confused. "Did I have a vision?" How long had he been laying here? LaShonda and Ben exchanged looks, if their Seer blocked out what he saw so completely then things were about to go pear-shaped very soon.

Joe had dropped by the farm to check in with Dean and get some lunch, frustrated that he had no opportunity to speak with Dean alone for any length of time. The funeral for Martha was Friday and law enforcement from all over the region would be attending.

The official story was that Martha and Old Rattler were searching for the bodies of missing hikers when the serial killer butchered them. LeDonne had arrived on the scene too late to save them, he fired at the killer but he escaped. Then the killer captured Kathy Wyler, tortured her, and was holding Sam Winchester hostage. During the search, Vera had fallen down a hill and injured her back, while Dean ended up with broken ribs fighting the killer. LeDonne was credited with shooting the killer but the body washed away in the storm. So close to the truth, yet miles away.

Old Rattler was tough and brave. Joe considered himself Rattler's successor in some ways, the old man died partly for him, and he was not going to let his death be for nothing. He may not have been born here, but he loved Wake County from the moment he set foot here all those years ago.

The only good thing about these Comacines was that they were patching up Sam and Vera and were providing help patrolling the county for a few days. Joe flexed his arm under the bandage. He remembered the horror in the cave and delivering the killing blow to the first demon. He would not consider letting Mike heal his arm for the world. He wanted those scars; he was not really a religious man, but those scars were sacred. He would bear them proudly in the memory of Martha, Rattler and his first hunt.

He looked up as Sam and Mike walked in, breaking his train of thought. Sam barely acknowledged him. Sam still had not forgiven Joe for beating the crap out of his brother when he thought he was the serial killer. Considering the Comacines had beaten Jay even worse did not seem to register with Sam. It was as if he had selective memory loss. The Comacines, Mike in particular, did not even acknowledge him at all. If you were not a psychic, you did not even register on their radar. That suited LeDonne just fine.

"How's Jay? Not too tired I hope?" Mike seemed to be the soul of concern. Joe restrained a sneer. Interesting how protective the Comacines were about Jay now that the kid had something they wanted.

"He's resting; I guess the boosting takes a lot out of him." Sam said his voice and manner a little conflicted.

Mike poured himself some coffee ignoring Joe as if he were one of the cats. "He's pretty amazing, the amount of range I have when I work with him is incredible. I don't think Vera would still be alive without him."

Sam's response was lukewarm. He obviously did not trust Mike that much. "That's great. When will she be able to sit up do you think?"

Joe translated the Sam speak, 'How soon can we get rid of you?'

"I'm really not sure. This is the really amazing part; she is beginning to feed me energy as I heal her." He shook his head, "both of them. It is just a shame that Vera has stayed hidden for so long. At least we can help Jay."

"She is? That's good; it means she's getting her strength back. What do you mean about helping Jay?" Sam asked suspiciously. 'Good,' Joe thought. He hoped Sam would not put his trust in these people even if they had healed him.

"We'll help him find his niche, someplace where he can be safe, happy and productive. Poor kid's been knocked around a lot 'trying' to be a Guardian." Joe's sharp ears caught the subtle emphasis on 'trying'.

Sam's eyebrows drew together and his eyes seemed to intensify, "Are you saying Jay isn't cut out to be a Guardian? What else is he supposed to do?"

"Being a Guardian in a remote mountain area with his ability?" Mike scoffed, "He is one of only five boosters in the world right now. He might be hurt and exhausted, but he can still triple my healing. I'm looking forward to what he can do when he's feeling well. No, he is wasting his talents here."

Joe chewed his sandwich furiously. Sam was clueless sometimes. It was obvious the Comacines wanted to use Jay and Vera but were concentrating on Jay since he was younger and more easily influenced. 

Sam shot Joe a confused look as if he felt some of Joe's anger. "But who would take care of the area? You think Vera can do it by herself?"

"She's hurt Sam," Mike said gently, "and this was her first crisis in the area. You and Dean ... I mean, she can help, teach, assist the Order with her ability, but...none of us want to see her hurt again."

"So you are not going to let either of them come back here? Is that it?" Sam bristled, "What about Dean and me? Where does that leave us?"

'And the rest of us' Joe wondered, glad that Dean was in charge and not Sam. It was obvious Sam's psychic abilities were more of a liability that a help right now. He could not see how Mike was playing him.

"No! They can still come back if they want. You just need some training and then you will be fine. Your abilities are very flexible, Dean is a good ground, and the two of you will do well together. It is just that Jay and Vera's abilities are very specialized. They can accomplish so much more working with other psychics than here by themselves."

"Well they have been teaching other psychics and I imagine they will want to continue to do that." Sam mused.

"Certainly, we will be talking to Vera about training Zip and some others, but their abilities really are not geared towards an isolated territory. They will only get hurt out here. They will be better off with the Orders, where people can take care of them and they can be useful. With their abilities they'll be able to help a lot of people; healing and doing other work to support Lines."

Sam looked doubtful. "Well maybe, but I know how much Jay loves this place. He is happier when he can get outside."

"He won't be cooped up inside for much longer. He'll have a lot more freedom in Hawaii, and after he turns 21, he can still spend part of the year here. It would make a good retreat home for him."

Sam looked even more doubtful, "So you think he will agree to spend part of the year with you in Hawaii? I can't see that happening."

Mike shrugged, "He doesn't have to work just with me, and he can do a lot of good with medical telekinetics, remote seers, and time controllers. There's so much good he could do working with other psychics. Think about it Sam, he'd be wasted out here."

"So you are saying there is a place for Jay and Vera with your Order, if that is what they want?"

"They have a place with any Order, not just the Comacines."

Sam had this "oh" look. Obviously, he was considering the benefits of Vera and Jay aligning with a large enough Order that could protect them versus just him and Dean. "You have a point."

Joe glowered for a moment, trying to get Sam's attention and failing.

Mike continued, still acting as if Joe did not exist. "I know it will be hard for them, they are both very independent. They'll be better off for it once they adjust. Considering their abilities and their injuries, not to mention Jay being arrested, well, I just think that says it all. They are brave, but sometimes that is just not enough."

Joe choked back on blossoming rage. He had his own doubts about the Kestersons the night of the storm, but both of them had done well. They may have fallen a few times, but they picked themselves up with single-minded determination. Jay had hidden Clayt and Kathy from the demons on the way home. Vera, the woman had channeled lightning in that cave. Both of them were tough and had heart. They were both healthy and not afraid of pain or hard work. Training would take care of the rest. Joe knew that from experience.

Joe also recognized when someone was trying to undermine a team. Making people doubt their teammates and buddies would do it quicker then anything. It was time to hunt down Dean and let him know the Comacines were sabotaging his team.

Dean rubbed sweaty palms on his jeans and looked at the group of people clustered around Joe's living room. He told Atin he was taking off with Joe for a while to take care of some things for the sheriff's office. The Comacines did not seem concerned. They just asked that he kept his cell on in case they had problems with Sam or Jay. He hated leaving his brother and the fragile Guardian alone with them, but he had to get out from under the Com's noses to discuss his plans.

Damn it, he was used to working with just Dad and Sammy, but here he was facing a room full of near strangers without his Dad giving orders and his brother having his back. Joe was slumped in an easy chair, his dark hair showing signs of sweat from his earlier patrols; the events of the past week obviously catching up to him. Every now and then, he would suddenly go still and stiff. Dean did not know why and did not ask.

Ruby Wyler looked angry; her cousin Maryanne had a strange, far off look in her eye. Maybe she was some sort of psychic. Shit, she was only 17; he made a fervent vow to keep her away from the Comacines and every other Order. He was hoping she was a ground; he desperately needed another one.

Betsy Rice sat primly on the edge of the couch, next to Zek Phillips, both of them looking stern and outraged. Ruby insisted they be there when she heard about the team meeting, insisting that the entire community would probably have to be involved to pull off any sort of plot against the Comacines.

Nora was there, a quiet but palpable presence. She was calmly knitting, as if this were nothing more than a church social. Her silence and lack of outrage over the actions of the Comacines made Dean nervous. What did the old psychic know that he did not? Scratch that. She probably knew more than he wanted to know.

Dean stood and began to pace and the room grew silent. When he was satisfied he had all their attention, he remained standing until the younger ones began to fidget. His ex-marine father drummed enough discipline into him. He knew if he did not take control of the situation now, they would never follow his orders or trust him. He was sure that Joe and the Wyler girls were going to do well, but they did not have the experience that he did. With a twinge, he realized he was following the advice of Sun Tzu more than his father's example these days.

"We have two situations here," he said slowly and deliberately. "One is known and the other unknown. According to Jay, something evil is coming and it is bad. My guess is more demons and that means all we can do is reinforce our protections here." He gave Ruby a warning glare not to interrupt.

"So what we can do is take the initiative with the first situation. The Comacines are splitting us up, some are going to Hawaii and the rest are staying here. The good news is the Priory is taking over here, so at least you three," Dean pointed at Joe, Ruby and Maryanne, "will have good backup. The Priory practice both magic and psychic abilities so they can handle any situation that comes up. Will is putting Nathan in charge; his team should be here in the morning. Will is also sending some trainers to bring you three up to speed on the usual creatures that frequent this area."

Dean paused to look over at Nora to see if she had anything to add. Then he asked them if they had any questions. Dean put LeDonne in charge of the group staying behind. Joe was not thrilled by that news, but at least he had backup in the form of the Priory.

"Now the Comacines want Sam, Vera and Jay in their greedy clutches in Hawaii. Jay's underage and Sam's rogue so they can hang on to them as long as they like. They are making all the right noises about letting us go to the Conclave in December, but we know they want to hang on to us, or at least Jay. It has to be either Sam or me to represent our petition for the right to be a Line at the Conclave. Maybe the Coms will let us go, maybe not. I'm not taking any chances. Sam will not be going with us to Hawaii."

Dean waved down the uproar of questions. "Now the problem is we need a distraction so Sam can escape. According to their laws, if Sam can get to Priory Headquarters he can ask for sanctuary. The Coms will not be able to touch him if the Priory grants it, which I'm sure they will. However, the Priory cannot help Sam escape. That would touch off a war between the Orders. The Coms will not let Sam leave the property without Ben being his leash. The roads are too well watched and they will notice any of the cars gone from the farm. Any ideas?"

"You are right" Maryanne said slowly, "Sam needs to leave. I think we need to get more people involved. The Coms can watch the roads, but what do they know about the Appalachian Trail, the county or farming?"

Dean noticed Nora's slow smile and a quickening of her hands while knitting. The old Guardian did know something but was letting him figure this out on his own.

Ruby's face was fierce and intent. "Do you think Sam can stay on a horse?" She asked eagerly.

"My new Range Rover can cover a lot of rough ground," Zek mused, grinning. It was a frightening expression on the old lawyer's face. It looked like he did not smile often.

"Who knows when another one of those Orders might show up and try to snatch another kid? We'll need the help of the entire community, and I happen to be the assistant football coach for the high school." Joe's voice was low and angry, while his eyes sparkled in grim anticipation.

The new Hunt leader grinned in relief; it looked like a plan was coming together.

Emma groaned as her flight finally touched down at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was going to have to rent a car to get home. Originally, Vera was supposed to come pick her up when she came home. She was going to kill her once she recovered.

With a grunt, she pulled her carry on off the overhead storage rack. Demons, secret societies and uncontrolled psychics; she should have known not to leave Vera alone; the woman was a trouble magnet. Emma blinked back tears. She expected to come home to an overgrown garden and a house needing cleaning but not one of her friends and coven mate almost dead and paralyzed, her nephew under house arrest and strangers invading her home.

Her luggage arrived quickly, praise the Gods for small miracles. She just hoped she would be graced with some larger ones. The coven needed every one they could get.

Jay felt like a caged animal, he had not been outside for days and it was driving him nuts. He wanted to slip outside but the exits were too well guarded. It was hard to find a spot to be alone. The only room they avoided was the altar room, so Jay tended to spend a lot of time in there. For some reason though, Pascal did not avoid the room. In fact, he had set up his cot and slept there; causing the other Coms to look at him strangely. Usually the room was empty during the day while Pascal was running errands or helping Mrs. Arrowood in the kitchen.

Earlier Pascal had a whopper of a vision, which had all the Coms on edge. The vision had triggered a migraine and Pascal was resting on his cot. Jay turned the door handle; he knew Pascal was awake when he felt a light psychic probe. It was the equivalent of a handshake, it helped other psychics identify who was nearby if they were familiar enough with each other's auras.

Thunder brushed by Jay's legs and went into the darkened room ahead of him. He trotted over to where Pascal was lying and put his head on Pascal's chest. Pascal patted Thunder's head, he had his other arm over his eyes blocking out the light. "Hi Jay," he whispered, obviously still in pain.

"Hi," Jay responded quietly. He puttered around the altar room trying not to make much noise. Pascal lay unmoving on the cot dressed only in his boxers. Being a Canuck, he found the heat oppressive.

After about 20 minutes, Jay realized what Thunder was doing he was shielding Pascal. Jay walked up to Pascal's cot, and used magic to reveal Pascal's shields and aura. He was horrified. He softly explained to Pascal what he was seeing. A magical hook was causing his shields to slip. Someone who practiced magic had put it there to disrupt his protections and leave him open to psychic and spiritual attack.

Pascal lowered the arm over his eyes. "The only other magician I saw was last year…" Pascal's voice trailed off as he looked fearfully at Jay and whispered, "Light Feather."

Jay saw red for a moment, how he hated that guy. A whine from Thunder drew his attention back to Pascal who was actually trembling with fear. Light Feather had messed up Pascal pretty good from what he could tell; just saying his name had Pascal terrified. Who knows what subliminal messages Light Feather may have embedded into Pascal's psyche while he was messing with his shields.

"Shh," Jay soothed, feeling very protective of Pascal, "I can take it out, don't worry I won't leave that in you." Jay could feel the spike in Pascal's anxiety level he was shaking hard. It looked like he was slipping into shock. Jay quickly put one hand on Pascal's cheek and the other on his neck. Magically he grabbed the hook, it actually looked like a barbed fish hook and pulled. It tore a hole in Pascal's shields as it came out, but it quickly began to heal over, although Pascal would still be vulnerable for a few days while he recovered.

Pascal gasped in relief, "Oh, that's better."

"Why didn't anyone notice?" Jay asked, confused.

"We don't know magic or what to look for." Pascal rolled over onto his side and pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked at Jay, a furtive look fleeting across his face. "Teach me," he pleaded.

The young magician looked up into Pascal's face from where he was still kneeling on the floor. "You want me to teach you?" Jay swallowed. "I would, but Aunt Vera forbade me to teach right now."

"Before or after she was hurt?" Pascal's voice was low and intense.

"Before" Jay whispered, realizing what he meant. Aunt Vera was in no condition to give him permission, and things had changed a lot in the past few days. He had to make his own decision.

Abruptly Jay stood up, strode over to an altar, and picked something up. Returning, he pressed a large rough stone into Pascal's hand. It felt almost like plastic, but it warmed in his hand quickly, feeling almost alive.

"What is it?" He asked, looking at the chunk of yellowish-brown rock in confusion.

"Your bonding gift, it means I've accepted you as my student."

"Thanks, but what is it?" Pascal asked again, holding up the strange, light rock, so large it covered his palm and he could barely close his fist around it.

"Raw amber. It's from the Baltic sea."

Pascal tightened his grip around it. Amber, he had seen beautiful rosaries made from carved amber beads. What a strange but fitting gift. 

After Joe dropped him off at the farm, Dean waited for the moment he could drag Sam back up to their room for a private talk. Sam's response to his instructions should not have surprised him, but it did.

"Giving orders? You're full of shit, Dean. I didn't take them from Dad, what the hell makes you think I'll take them from you?"

"Do you think I want to send you away?" Dean knotted one hand in his hair while hissing at his brother. "And pipe down. We don't want them up here seeing what you're being a bitch about."

"I'm being a bitch because you're not making any sense. You trust the Priory more than the Comacines. Dude, they put me back together again and they're Vera's only hope. My leaving will upset them, what if they retaliate and decide to not help Vera anymore?" Sam began pacing the room like a caged lion. Starlight mewled pitifully, not understanding why her human was so angry. He stopped, visibly calming himself before picking up the small kitten, her almost solid white coat standing out in a stark contrast to the jewel-toned quilt on their bed.

"Come on, lawyer boy, they have already acknowledged Vera as a Guardian so according to their own laws they have to help her. Not only that, Will threatened to go to war if they don't put Vera back together again. Dude, the Coms are drooling over having Jay as their own personal Energizer bunny until he turns 21. You have to get to the Conclave in case they keep us in Hawaii. You can talk better then I can, argue our case so we can be voted in. Will has a sneaky, backdoor scheme to get Vera and Jay put in our Line so they'll be safe." Dean threw a worried glance at the window, it was rapidly becoming dark and it was as if the sun was trying to tell him how little time they had left. It seemed like every time Sam spent any time with Mike he was strongly influenced by him and Dean had to fight with his brother to get him to see what was really going on. Once again, Dean wondered how the Comacines were messing with Sam's mind. Another reason to get him out of here; it looked like at least some of the bastards were trying to brainwash him.

"Why do you trust Will so much? He hasn't done anything for us." Dean's heart froze when he saw the pissy tick in Sam's cheek he always got when he was being stubborn. "What makes you think he'll actually go along with me asking for sanctuary?"

"Sam, have you seen the way he looks when he talks about Vera? There's some weird magic thing between them. He has helped her," Dean glanced at the door and lowered his voice "he's a healer too; just not as strong as Mike. That's why she's getting better faster and why he keeps insisting on coming to see her personally. Dude, he is the Head of his Order! You think he just drops by every time the Coms screw up?"

Sam stopped pacing, his face going still for a moment. Dean stared at him anxiously, hoping that Ben was not doing something to him through the tag. Sam's face did not go entirely blank but he was frowning hard.

With a swallow, Dean decided to go in for the kill. "Remember what Old Rattler said one of the last times we saw him? I'm your Hunt leader and ground, not just your brother. I don't want to do this dude; you're just now getting your head straight. You're getting to be you again, not some kind of psychic zombie. I won't see you for months, but you're the best chance we have."

"What if the Coms taking Vera and Jay is the best thing for them?" Sam's voice was reluctant, his speech slow. "They both got hurt, Vera's almost dead…"

"You weren't there," Dean snapped, cutting off anything else Sam had to say. The Coms were messing with his head, but he had to get through to him. A dark fury scorched Dean's throat and he just stopped himself from slamming Sam into a wall, remembering at the last moment Starlight cuddled against his brother's chest. "Vera was doing just fine until the Coms started shooting at her while she was exorcising your sorry ass. She helped track you through a violent storm. Jay wasn't roughed up until Zip and Pascal started restraining him from trying to protect his aunt. You seemed pretty pissed about that yesterday, what's different today?"

An ugly flush spread across Sam's face. "They could do a lot more good if…"

"Stop it!" Dean cut Sam off again. "I know the line of bullshit Mike's been feeding you. It doesn't matter how much Mike wants to use them. It should be their choice what they do with their lives and ability, not Mike's or anybody else's. Nora and Rattler said they were Guardians, not lap dogs for some Freemasons with delusions of grandeur. They would only be helping people who actually make it to the Com's hospital. Think about all the people they could keep from being damaged in the first place. You know Jay's going to hit the road with us sometime, and we have Ruby, Maryanne and Joe to help, too."

Dean clenched his teeth against tears he could not stop. "Dude, you wanted a home, we have it now. I didn't think I'd ever want one, but now that I have it, I do. I will kill any bastard who tries to take that away from us. From us, Sammy. Don't let Mike or anyone else con you into throwing that away. Vera and Jay…they've already done so much, we have to try to keep them free, give 'em a choice. You're my brother, I don't want to let you go, even for a day, but if they keep them, they can keep you."

Just as Sam was nodding his head, his own eyes damp, the door opened abruptly. Pascal stood there, face pale in the deepening dusk; they had not turned the light on in their room. Both brothers tensed, knowing that the Comacine Seer could blow away their plans by simply raising his voice. Dean was also shocked to see him up after the migraine he had earlier in the day.

"Dean, the Wylers are here to see you, Maryanne and her parents, and Ruby." Pascal's voice softened when he said Ruby's name. Dean stared at him, wondering why he was not raising the alarm. He cursed inwardly; he did not want Maryanne around the Coms in case she was some kind of weird psychic and not a ground as he hoped. Pascal lowered his voice. "I didn't hear anything, but be careful. There are other Orders in the area, and watch the streams, they are still flooding."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances, stunned. Maybe they had a better chance of pulling this off than they thought.

The demon drew back with a hiss as it gazed down at Vera, hanging invisible over the nurse Billy Ray. The damned quilt was woven with so many protections put in place by so much faith it was impossible to touch the bitch directly. Little charms had been sewn into the batting, a tiny fairy cross, rowan twigs tied with red string, a waterproof packet of salt, a pinch of blessed tobacco, miniature crystals, small, rounded pieces of cold iron. Every stitch had a prayer whispered as it was put in, every scrap of fabric had Psalms reverently repeated over it as it was chosen, and hymns were sung into the batting. The very interlocking ring pattern was a powerful protection. It was a masterwork of a Guardian made with faith, hope and love. The old bitch Guardian had made it and passed it to Old Rattler, who had blessed it in his turn to send to the young bitch Guardian.

Maybe he could not kill her directly, by pinning her to the ceiling and releasing her intestines in a torrent of blood and set the old farmhouse on fire as he longed to, but he had another plan. Possess the nurse and use him to kill her. Have the Comacines murder the Guardian and set off a war with the Priory of Nyx and the Winchesters and the younger Kesterson would be right in the middle. With one death, he could cause thousands, the Orders fighting each other rather than battling the real darkness in the world.

This was going to be even better than blood, entrails and fire.

Zip sat quietly in the bedroom he had 'claimed'. It was in a quiet spot at the end of the hallway, next door to Jay's bedroom. This house was a gold mine of information. Being somewhat of a scholar, Zip loved to learn and right now, learning about magic was the top of his priority list.

He had spent many hours translating speeches at the Conclave and last year had sat in on some panel discussions. Many of the other Orders used magic. He was a known, rare psychic. Many Orders and Lines would not hesitate to kidnap him. Zip was going to protect himself in any way possible.

Zip was sitting on the floor so that the bed was between him and the door if anyone dropped by unexpectedly. He did not want his Order to know that he had borrowed a few magic books from the library downstairs.

He was practicing a spell that was in one of the books when the door flew open and Jay barged in looking more alarmed than angry. "What are you doing?" he hissed.

Zip quickly hid the book under the bed and gave his best mildly irritated and innocent look. "What?"

"Oh, come off it dude! I could feel the energy fluxes from downstairs. You're messing around with something! Don't you know how badly you can screw up if you don't know what you're doing?"

A slow smile spread across Zip's face. "So I could cause trouble if I don't know what I'm doing?" Jay thought his smile was looking very shark-like. "Well, I intend to keep on trying to learn, but I would rather have a teacher. Are you offering to be my teacher?"

Jay's mouth hung open in surprise. The nerve of this kid, just what had he gotten his hands on? He had noticed some books missing from the library, but did not know which titles. He could yell for Ben or one of the other Coms and nail his sorry ass for stealing the books. Not that that would stop him, he had been trying something very advanced and harmful. A little knowledge was more dangerous than no knowledge.

"You're the one who stole the books out of the library," Jay stalled trying to think.

Zip shrugged, "I borrowed a few. Now that it has become common knowledge that I'm a booster, I'm going to be the number one name on the kidnapping list. Lots of Orders and Lines use magic, so I need an edge. Do you want to teach me or not?" he demanded.

"Why me?" moaned Jay. "Lord and Lady, why me? I'm teaching Sam and Pascal, so why the hell not."

Zip looking surprised, "You're teaching Pascal?"

Jay waved his hand distractedly, "Yes. He just asked me today."  
Zip, looked thoughtful. "Okay, so how does this part work?" He took out the book he had been practicing from and pointed to the section he was working on.  
"Dude, you can't start with this!" Jay reeled back in horror. "This'll eat you alive. It's Enochian Calls! I don't even do stuff with this on my own and even Aunt Vera is careful with it. Just what other books did you steal?  
Zip revealed books hidden all around the room on combat magic, chaos magic and summoning magic. "I need to learn this all quickly. How long will it take for me to learn?"  
"A while," Jay replied, glaring at the arrogant young booster. He had no idea what he was messing with here. "Listen, I'm giving a lesson in my room. Just come sit in on it, okay?"  
Zip grinned. "Thanks. What spell are you working on?"  
"We don't start with spells. Don't call them that, its workings, not spells. You need to know the basics first, how magic works. You don't just jump into it. That's how you get messed up, and whatever you do, don't try to call the four archangels!" He snatched the book away from Zip that was open to that page. Thank the Gods this edition had the misprints and he would not actually summon anything.  
"I'm a fast learner, and after channeling lightning with your Aunt Vera, it seems easy enough," was Zip's cocky reply.

Jay shook his head. This conceited kid was going to push him hard. "See you in 20 minutes."

The man and woman waiting in the dilapidated front hall had the unusual coloring of many people here in the mountains Dean thought as he made his way slowly down the stairs, gripping the handrail. The man was dark haired with startling blue eyes, similar to Nora Bonesteel and he was gripping an envelope. The woman, who Dean presumed to be his wife, had long, white-blond hair. It took only one glance to see that it was her natural color; hair that long and healthy didn't get its color from Ms Clairol. They both looked fit, with the exception of Hank getting a little bit of a potbelly, and their hands looked rough. They obviously did a lot of hard, physical labor.

Their gaze made Dean uncomfortable, a look of respect mixed with sorrow. It was obvious they were here to thank him, which caused him to squirm a little. The only recognition he was used to receiving was a faint smile or a whispered 'thank you'. Hunting was so intense, so private for him and Sam, tied up as it was in their family history. It was hard for him to accept any gratitude. He was relieved to see Ruby waiting quietly next to Maryanne, off to one side.

Then a sudden realization struck him. Seeing the two cousins in the company of their aunt and uncle and parents hit Dean in the gut. The couple's daughter, Kathy, had been tortured by demons, and now their niece and other daughter had joined his Hunt group. He was responsible for the safety of someone's daughters, their kin. He was going to be leading them into a war; for a moment, he felt both a crushing guilt and an almost paternal protectiveness towards the two young women.

He bit his lip. Damn it all, how could Dad have dragged him and Sammy into danger so often when they were just kids? He could barely deal with leading someone else's family into danger.

"Son," the father's voice cut through his thoughts, "I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Hank Wyler, and this here is my wife, Louise. We just wanted to come by and show our thanks."

Dean could feel a slow blush spreading across his face and he looked away. "Hey, no problem. Was out there looking for my dumb - " Dean bit his lip again and changed what he was about to say, "my little brother anyways."

Louise's green eyes stared at him sharply. Dean wondered what it was about the women up here; he thought Southern women were supposed to be sweet doormats. Most the ones he had met were hard asses wrapped up in a thin candy shell that broke easily. "Son, everyone knows good and well you were after that…" her voice trailed off as she fought back tears. "You were going to search for our little Kathy, your brother taken or no."

He curled his hands into his pockets, still a little embarrassed and saying nothing. Ruby broke the deadlock in the hall by walking towards the living room abruptly.

"Come on y'all, let's go sit down."

They sat in silence for a moment and Dean fidgeted. He realized with a thrill of guilt that he had not thought about Kathy in the past few days; so much had been going on. Abruptly, Hank thrust the envelope at Dean.

He took it reluctantly, afraid that it contained money. "You don't have to..."

"Look at it." Ruby ordered her eyes unreadable.

Dean got a shock when he opened the envelope. It contained a birth certificate and social security card, along with a high school transcript and even tax forms. The name on all of it was Jimmy Dean Wyler.

"I heard you had some problems with your identity." Louise said after a moment. "Jimmy, our son, died a while back. After all you've done for our family, well, Jimmy don't need all them papers anymore, but we hear you can."

"You gave us Kathy back," said Hank, "and Jimmy's middle name was Dean, well it all just fits."

"We'd be right proud if you wanted to be a Wyler," Maryanne said softly.

Dean could not have looked more shocked, "But, everyone around here knows that I'm not your son Jimmy Dean."

"If anybody asked, they'd tell different," responded Hank as if that settled the matter.

"It's not a hurtin' anyone and Uncle Sam won't need to know," added Louise.

Dean was overwhelmed, "I don't know what to say. Huh, I guess that means Spencer will be able to hire me legit now." Dean looked in the envelope. The birth certificate read: Jimmy Dean Wyler born July 16, 1981. It was Dean's turn to laugh. "I'm three years younger too. Well that's okay."

Ruby laughed a little sadly as well. "I was having an awful time with the paperwork Deputy Winchester, or should I say Wyler? Sheriff Arrowood can't go around hiring a suspected murderer."

A simple nod was the only response Dean could manage.

Hank smiled, "It's settled then. Just don't try and claim the farm, you hear?"

Dean recovered, "No sir, I'm not a farmer, so you don't have to worry about that." After a moment, he asked mildly "Uh, Jimmy Dean? Isn't that the name of a sausage?"

A bittersweet smile spread across Louise's face. "I craved Jimmy Dean sausage the entire time I was carrying him." Dean could not help but answer her smile with one of his own.

"We need to get going." Maryanne reminded her parents in her soft voice. "Visiting hours for the hospital's ICU will be over soon."

"How, how is she?" Dean asked, feeling strangely timid.

"She'll heal" Louise said quietly. "She seemed to get a lot better after that blond-haired fellow staying here went to see her today. Still don't know how he got in there, him not being family and all. Said he was some kind 'o psychiatrist or nerve doctor or something."

Ben; it had to be. He must have done to Kathy what he had done to Sam. Damn it, just when he was comfortable thoroughly disliking these people they went and did something good.

After they stood, Hank shook his hand and Louise gave him a hard, almost crushing hug, almost as if she did not want to let him go. His 'mom' was tearing up and Dean could not help but tear up a little too. He was wanted here.

Ruby flopped gracelessly back down on the couch after her aunt, uncle and cousin left. "I drove myself, just figured I'd hang out for a while, just in case you needed anything." Dean grinned; glad she was staying although he wondered if Pascal was the real reason.

Sam was upstairs learning the invisibility trick from Jay in the young Guardian's room. Zip and Pascal were with them, watching in fascination. Zip seemed especially intense. Dean felt sorry for both the junior Coms; shit rolled down hill and the two of them were being buried. Ben wandered in and sat down. Dean was surprised to see him take out knitting needles and start knitting.

Noticing his look, Ben just smiled happily. "Ms. Bonesteel gave these to me. I haven't knitted in years." Dean just shook his head while Ruby regarded the Comacine with a mix of amusement, resentment and grudging gratitude. Dean wondered if his expression mirrored Ruby's.

"What's that?" Ben asked curiously, motioning to the envelope on the table.

Dean told him, causing Ben's forehead to furrow.

"We were already working on a new identity for you. That one" he said nodding to the paperwork "might give you problems since a death certificate may have been…"

"It's been taken care of!" Ruby snarled.

He gripped the birth certificate, this was so much more then just a new, legal identity. "No" Dean said faintly "I'm keeping this one."

Ben blinked, but let it drop.

The three of them sat quietly for a moment before Ruby turned on the television; Dean was thankful Vera had satellite cable. After snickering through an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Dean remembered the Wyler ghost.

"Ruby, what happened with Katie Wyler? Why was she," Dean paused a moment, groping for the term everyone seemed to use up here, "'walking'?"

"Why do you ask?" She regarded him for a moment, her expression closed.

"She helped us find Kathy, and then she disappeared in this light." Dean shook his head, hearing that strange hymn echoing in his ears again. "Sam saw her a few times too."

"Katie Wyler is my many times great aunt. She was kidnapped by Indians back about 1770 or so. Somehow she escaped and walked a good 200 miles through the woods by herself, no food, no clothes other then what she was wearing when all her family but her little brother had been killed. She was engaged to Rab Greer, a guy on a nearby farm, and by nearby I mean 10 miles. The Greers were one of the few families that were up here. It took her over a year to escape. The night she got back, she found her way to the Greer homestead, looking for her fiancée and little brother. She and Rab Greer went for a walk but he came home alone. They found her in the woods, strangled. Rab never said what happened, but we can guess."

Dean stared at her, freaked. Katie had walked all that way only to be murdered by her fiancée when she got back.

"She was pregnant with Rab Greer's baby when she got kidnapped. She either left the baby behind or killed it to get home."

He was shocked. Katie Wyler had probably killed her own child. Her ghost was not after revenge, if the Greer family had many strange deaths he and Sam would have seen it in the Wake County newspaper obits. She was looking for redemption, not to cause more pain.

Moreover, by saving her great grand niece, Katie Wyler it had balanced the scales. Dean realized it was the first time he had laid a spirit to rest without salting and burning. It kinda felt good.

He walked Ruby to the door, it was getting late and she had to work tomorrow.

Vera gripped the handles of the walker tightly, taking tottering steps. She was exultant; she could stand on her own two feet again. Going to the bathroom unaided was a major triumph. Grinning, she looked up to see Atin and Dean smiling at her from a doorway. Dean, the smart ass, was clapping.

A sudden feeling of deep unease flashed through Vera, and she abruptly found herself staring at a water-stained plaster ceiling again, her heart breaking. Was it a vision or hallucination? She could not tell.

The nurse Bobby Ray, or whatever his name was, closed the door.

"Stupidity is a wonderful thing," he said, his voice full of menace.


	26. Chapter 26

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 27: Part 1...This Way Comes**

**Summary:** The Yellow-Eyed Demon Returns

**Warnings:** _Graphic scenes coming up--gore and original character deaths._

After the door closed, Sam enwrapped Jay from behind and slowly pulled him down on the mattress, spooning him. Jay looked tense and weary eyed. Sam kissed him gently on the back of his head and held him tightly as his back spasmed.

"You need your medication."

"No." Jay's voice held an edge. "Have to be sure you have this down."

Sam sighed and tried to snuggle Jay into relaxing. Sam knew Jay was a patient teacher but Zip just about drove him up a wall. He constantly interrupted Jay, second-guessing him, jumping ahead with realizations he made before Jay had a chance to explain them to him and Pascal. Sam stopped the lesson before Jay went nuclear.

Sam picked up the invisibility trick easily; according to Ben, he had been doing something similar for years to hide himself, Dad and Dean. All you had to do was keep one little part of your mind blank then kind of let it bleed out.

It didn't help Jay's mood that Zip had picked it up almost immediately. Pascal struggled with just understanding the concept. Sam suspected that it was due to the fact Pascal was born into a Comacine family while Zip said he had only been a Com for five years. The Comacines seemed pretty rigid in their thinking when it came to magic and that was holding Pascal back.

Jay was obviously achy and fretful, so Sam worked on stroking his back, cuddling, and trying to get him to calm down. After he stopped fussing, Sam was going to try again to get him to take his medication. If Jay still resisted then he would get Elizabeth to help. She was in the upstairs sun room, trying to give Jay some space. She couldn't exactly force him to do anything but she was good at helping to persuade him. It was getting late; they both needed sleep.

Jay relaxed and finally took the painkillers, muscle relaxants and sleeping pills after Sam gave him a quick and dirty hand job. He rather enthusiastically offered a blow job in return, which was tempting as hell, but Sam just wanted him to sleep. They needed him too much; to help heal Vera and to teach him what he needed to know. He held Jay gently until he began to drift off, then slipped off to the bathroom to take care of the hard on he'd gotten listening to Jay whimpering as he came.

Sam grinned when Elizabeth's curly head popped into view from the doorway at the opposite end of the hall. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up; clearly indicating that she knew what Sam had done. He noticed she looked flushed. Shutting the bathroom door behind him and starting the shower, Sam smirked at the thought of how this was affecting Ben.

He had just pulled off his shirt when the sound of a gunshot echoed through the house. Sam tried to pull the door open, but it was frozen shut. He began throwing his shoulder against it when he heard Elizabeth shouting at Jay to stop.

Oh, God, Jay had just taken sleeping pills. Panicking and running into a deadly situation was the last thing he needed to be doing.

"Jay!" he shouted, pounding harder on the door. "Jay, don't go!"

No, he could not let this happen. His body was moving, pain lancing through his mind as he fought the dark and evil presence. Words rolled out of his mouth with an inflection he would never use. With a thought, he knew where everyone in the house was located. He was a medical telekinetic, not a remote viewer.

His body leaned over the hospital bed, mocking the pale face below him, taunts and threats dropped lightly off his tongue. Despite the nerve ending pain of trying to fight, Vera's terror gave him waves of pleasure.

Damn it all, he was a Comacine! He reached out through his bond, fighting whatever had him, trying to make contact with other members of his Order, and hoping one of them could stop him from doing the unthinkable.

"Stupidity is a wonderful thing."

Vera really did not like this nurse; what the hell was he going on about this time? She was trying to pretend to be asleep, not wanting to be sedated into oblivion again. She couldn't help but be restless and all these Comacines were psychics, too. She hated it, all she had to do was twitch and someone was putting something into her IV and somehow they were keeping her from using her abilities. Everything felt wrong, but Dean did not understand when she tried to explain. Flat on her back there was not much she could do.

Footsteps come closer and Vera gave up trying to pretend and opened her eyes. Glowing yellow eyes made her choke in fear. The nurse's face was twisted into an expression that looked totally foreign to his face, even though she'd only seen him for a few hours.

"Hello Ashera."

The scream of terror and warning that was clawing its way out of her chest came out as a whimper. "What do you want?" It knew her name, her real name that was more horrifying to her then its mere presence in her room.

"I'm more interested in talking about you." Vera could only stare in terror as the possessed nurse's hand gently brushed the hair off her forehead. "I want to tell you a few truths before I kill you. You deserve to know you are a masterpiece." He pulled out Billy Ray's gun and smiled, deep and dark. "Not too dramatic, but it will have to do. This isn't my usual M.O., I would rather play with your intestines and set you on fire, but blowing your brains out all over your precious covenstead won't be too much of a disappointment. These Comacines," the damned thing leaned over a little, so she could see it smirk "are the ones that came here to kill you. They're keeping you alive to keep Jay, Sam and Dean under control."

"No! Why would I believe anything you have to say?" Vera frantically tried to call out to one of the Comacines, wondering why they knew when she needed to blow her nose but could not feel her emotional reaction to being threatened by a demon. It was a relief to hear Shade scratching at the closed door; maybe someone would finally realize something was wrong.

"The truth is so much more fun. Your death will cause a war to break out. Sam and Jay are right in the middle of the crossfire. Jay has almost had enough; Sam is barely holding it together. They'll both break."

"No! I've worked too hard. They're stronger than you think." Damn it, no! Where were the Comacines? This thing might succeed in killing her, but she was a priestess, her power went beyond her physical body. Vera vowed that she would stay on this side and not go to the Western Shore. She'd watch over Jay and Sam for as long as they needed her and she wouldn't leave Dean alone. She knew enough magic; she could keep herself here if she wanted to.

"Having some troubles calling out?" The demon chuckled, "You haven't realized it yet, but I'm in charge now. I have plans. Not only am I starting a war, but also I am making a child tonight. Dean will make a very good son."

Vera snarled up at him, she might be about to die, but not here, not in her home. As soon as the demon killed her, she'd be free to act; this thing wouldn't get past her to any of them. "He'll boot your ass out; he'll resist you possessing him."

The demon chuckled again, "Haven't you been listening Vera? I'm not possessing Dean, he going to be my son. Ah well, enough talk." He pressed the barrel of the gun flush against the middle of her forehead and kissed her cheek. "Say hello to Ravenmocker for me. Because he bent the rules and teleported you from that cave, I can play in his sandbox. I just love taking Principalities pets away from them."

Ginger smiled at how excited Zip was after he came down to the library after playing cards with Pascal, Sam and Jay. When she was assigned as his bodyguard, she was dreading the thought of being saddled with a young Mike Jensen. Nothing to worry about there, Zip was too happy making friends close to his own age to start getting arrogant.

She shook her head as she watched Zip examine the books. After the poor kid had been struck by lightning a few nights ago LaShonda scanned him to see if he was all right. She had been surprised to find that Zip was a lot younger then they thought, probably 16, not 19. It had something to do with bone formation and teeth eruptions; she did not bother to try to understand.

A rattling, scratching noise startled her and she walked out into the hallway. Almost directly across the hall was Vera's room. The door was closed and her black cat was clawing at it frantically. They all had been warned to let the animals have full access to the Kestersons and Winchesters at all times.

"Billy Ray?" she called out, walking to Vera's door. Ginger could feel that something was wrong; Zip felt it too and was soon making his way across the furniture crowded library towards her. As she opened the door Shade streaked past her and into the room.

Zip tagged along behind Ginger; maybe if something was wrong with Vera he could help. He was still almost giddy that he had psychic ability just like most other Comacines.

As soon as Ginger opened the door, terror seized him. Suddenly Ginger flew up to the ceiling, the breath seemingly crushed out of her, her blue eyes bulging as her stomach ripped open, sending her intestines spilling out onto the floor beneath her, showering Zip with blood.

Next thing Zip heard was Shade's snarl and then what sounded like bones breaking. He looked up to see Billy Ray's eyes glowing yellow for a moment before fading to a rich blue, totally unlike his natural brown eye color. Ginger crashed to the floor, entangling him in her entrails. Zip screamed in emotional agony as he watched Billy Ray jerk the gun he was holding up under his chin and pull the trigger.

A black cloud billowed out of Billy Ray's body and hurled itself at Zip, who instinctively became 'invisible' and spiked out a surge of energy. The cloud stopped and Zip could hear a bone shaking snarl as it dove behind him, then suddenly reversed course and streamed down the hallway.

He didn't even have the breath to scream as somebody grabbed him from behind.

Billy Ray was relieved when he heard Ginger calling to him from the hallway. The thing controlling his body turned away from Vera, taking the gun away from her face. He watched in agony as Ginger flew up against the ceiling, the thing in him exulting at the sight of her blood. He would never forget the look of pain and horror on Zip's face and he desperately wished he could shield him from this.

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest and that black cat he disliked so much flew into a wall, her body crushed and flattened by the force of the blow, and Billy Ray suddenly found himself in control for a split second.

Maybe there was something to the witch and her magic, that little cat gave him something invaluable – a chance to stop this. He jerked the gun up under his chin. When he was Found; he swore to protect his Order, to protect all Hunters and Guardians who needed his aid. He might not like Vera Kesterson, but he was sworn to protect her and all those like her.

He suddenly saw a longhaired Native American man standing behind Zip and knew he was not alone. Not that it mattered, but he was glad someone was here to help him across. It wasn't a difficult decision at all as he pulled the trigger.

Mike almost dropped his cell when he heard the gunshot. He whirled and ran through the library from the back porch, his first instinct to go to his patient and skidded to a stop when he saw Zip standing there covered in blood with a black cloud swirling around him. The cloud dove at him then rocketed down the hallway.

He grabbed Zip from behind and spun around in front of him. "Zip?" Mike said desperately. Once he touched him, he realized Zip was still alive, but psychically 'invisible'. "Come on!"

Zip stood there staring vacantly, obviously in shock. He blinked slowly seeing Mike.

"Come on Zip, we have to move!" Mike urged, looking over his shoulder regretfully towards Vera's bedroom before turning back to him. "Come on!" Mike had to push Zip back through the library to get him to move.

Zip reacted predictably to being manhandled. "Stop! It's still out there. Get off me!"

"Zip, we have to move, come on! We can't do anything for any of them!" He motioned back to the blood-filled hallway.

"No!" Zip suddenly planted his feet and resisted. "Vera is still alive. I can feel her."

"I can too, but I'm not putting you in danger to look after her! Now move!" As much as he wanted to go to Vera, his first priority had to be a child of his Order.

Mike pushed Zip through the library and out to the back porch. Shock made Zip stop resisting.

"Stay back here and hide. Anybody and I do mean anybody that comes out here looking for you shoot them unless they are one of us. I'm going back in." Mike handed him his cell phone, "Rad's number is on speed dial, get her to send help!" he ordered before he ran back inside.

She could do this; she had to do this. Vera had managed to send her mind and soul out from her body before, but it had always been under very controlled and carefully planned circumstances. Now there was too much at stake, she had to be able to do this without preparation; there were too many lives she needed to protect.

Remembering calming Sam at the sheriff's station, remembering the demons and the circle she reached deep into the earth…

Abruptly she found herself floating ten feet above her body but she didn't waste time gazing in wonder, she had a fight to pick. She briefly noticed Ravenmocker's look of surprise and she flashed past him and the two souls he was comforting. In the spirit plane everything looked so different, both shadowed and more intense, physical forms distorted by the energy fields around them.

If she wanted to live, she had to be quick. Her body was weakened enough by her injuries, going astral took far too much out of even a healthy body.

Vera let her fury carry her, snarling at the contamination the thing left behind. It wasn't bothering to try to hide. Skittering out into the main hall, she finally saw it.

Yellow and reptilian, a sickly fan of flesh around its head; the thing was disgusting even as unclean spirits went. It wasn't a warrior; not really, it was a scavenger, trying to provoke pain and suffering and madness so it could feed off of it.

It had tendrils enwrapping a young man she vaguely remembered, with a spike driven into him, like a barbed penis injecting something. She didn't know what it was doing but she screamed in fury that it dared to invade her covenstead, her home.

Then she finally saw through her fury enough to see Dean's flickering life force in its hands; green pulsing with blue white, steadily waning. Out of nowhere, she had a weapon in her hands, forged out of her faith and will and connection to the land, an echo of the sword she wielded when she slashed her hand to the bone in the cave where they had found Sam.

The demon turned to her in surprise, his grasp of the young man killing Dean loosening, which in turn led to the young man dropping Dean.

"You're a tough little witch priestess, I have to give you that." It grinned, yellowish teeth clacking together. "But you can't last for long; you're going to die if you try to fight me."

She snarled, "My physical death won't slow me down, and it's a sacrifice I am willing to make. Are you really willing to face me here, on this ground when I am ready to die and use the power of my death energy to destroy you?"

There was a clamor on the front porch, both a psychic and physical disturbance. Vera recognized the auras of the people outside the door. One was Emma, praise the Gods! The other one she could not quite make out, but she had shared magic with this person and by the pattern of his energy, it was someone she had trained.

That was enough to give her hope she might actually make it out of this alive.

Zip punched the speed dial number for Mistress Tudor. Shock made his movements slow and habit made him follow orders. He heard the thick, British-Indian accent of the Head of his Order say, "Michael, what sort of havoc are your little Yankee friends causing now?"

He blinked in confusion at her familiar tone. After a moment, he heard her saying, "Michael? What is wrong?"

"Mistress Tudor, its Zip Valdez. Another demon attacked," he said in a rush.

There was shocked silence for a moment, "What? Report, what is the status of the situation?" He heard her calling for her assistant Geoffrey.

Zip's training took over; he reported the situation, as he knew it. "Ginger and Billy Ray are both dead. Dr. Jensen went to check on Vera. I heard a scream but everything is quiet now."

"Why do you have Michael's phone?"

"Dr. Jensen gave me his phone and told me to call you to send help. He said to shoot anyone that may be possessed." Zip suddenly realized that he was covered in Ginger's blood. "I have to go," he said abruptly hanging up.

Unable to open the door, Sam looked around desperately for another way out of the bathroom. He noticed one of the panels on the wall seemed loose and he tore desperately at it when he felt Dean's terror. He stumbled backwards as the plywood panel popped off the wall and he found himself staring at exposed plumbing. Angling his head to try to see if there was anyway down to the first floor he was surprised to see a crumbling staircase. It looked like it was a servant's stairs leading from the first floor to the attic. A large portion of it had been cut out to make room for the bathroom plumbing, but it looked like he might be able to use it to get out. Sam carefully put his weight on the first step he could reach, squeezing his lanky frame between the pipes.

Every step that held under his weight made his heart leap until finally he made his way down to the last step. He blindly groped around the walls and realized he was in a corner. Two walls were brick but the other felt like sheet rock. With a snarl of victory, he began punching and kicking his way through the wall.

Zip dropped the cell phone and gun and dashed into the large half bathroom off the kitchen. It had been recently added and like most of the old farmhouse had not been finished. The rough sheet rock walls might look shabby, but the plumbing worked and that was all that mattered to Zip. He grabbed a towel, drenched it with cold water from the toilet and began scrubbing the blood from his face and arms.

He froze when he heard what sounded like a demented rat behind the wall. A large fist punched through the drywall and then an eye peered out at Zip. He screamed flailing backwards toward the door.

"Zip! It's Sam." The tall Hunter ripped the drywall apart with almost frightening ease and clambered into the room.

Zip fumbled for the gun and realized in horror that he'd dropped it. His first thought was that Dr. Jensen was going to be furious with him unless a possessed Sam killed him first.

"Dude, what happened?" Sam asked cautiously, standing there half-naked covered in spider webs and dust.

Zip was relieved when he scanned Sam and realized he was safe. The horror of what happened was beginning to dawn on him. "They're dead."

"Who Zip? Who died?" Sam felt his heart racing.

"Ginger and Billy Ray ..." his voice trailed off into a strangled sob.

"What killed Ginger and Billy Ray?"

"Can't you feel it?" Zip looked at him accusingly, "It's another demon! Billy Ray was possessed, his eyes were yellow and he killed Ginger and then himself!" Zip saw the room unfocus around him as he reached out with his newfound ability, using the link that connected all Comacines to each other. The link he had never been able to use before.

"Now I can't feel Pascal!" he wailed.

Sam felt as if he had been slugged in the stomach and the bathroom door began to rattle. "Sorry, that's me. I think Ben was knocked out or something because the tag just now seems to be starting to work again." He grabbed his neck feeling the echo of his brother's pain. "It's after Dean!" he said jerking opening the door. "Zip, stay here!"

Zip was shaking as Sam slammed the door behind him and he wondered why everyone wanted him to hide.

Emma looked in her rear view mirror, annoyed. There was an SUV in front of her and another car following her; must be more of these damned secret societies. She could sense the wards on the farm were down, and saw broken fences and tire tracks had made deep furrows in the mud. As she got closer to the house, she started having a feeling of foreboding; something was very, very wrong. Didn't these idiots realize how unclean forces could be attracted to a vulnerable priest and priestess? They were like tasty little happy meals. It was the main danger in becoming a spiritual warrior. Vera had explained that clearly enough before she Initiated her.

By the time she reached the house she could see flickering lights and all but tumbled out of the car. This was bad, very bad; it felt like something much bigger and more evil then anything she'd ever faced before. The coven's pool of built up magical energy had been wiped out.

Her temper flared as she recognized one of the men getting out of the SUV. Will Woodfin. She'd met him years ago at a party in Asheville. As soon as he found out she was a student and good friend of Vera's he'd literally ran from her. Bastard. What was he doing here?

She didn't have time to shout at him the way she wanted to. Vera had Initiated him as a priest and that was all that mattered, in that at least he was God and Goddess sent. Between the two of them they could call upon the power of both God and Goddess, light and dark, feminine and masculine, the powers of earth, fire, water and air.

"Will!" she screeched and he wheeled around to look at her, hope and relief lighting up his eyes as he reached for her. They had just grasped hands and began to merge their energy when the front door open and hell itself seemed to spill out onto the doorstep.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: the Supernatural and Ballad Novel story elements aren't ours.

Sam stumbled from the bathroom and into a nightmare.

The front hall was filled with noise and chaos and swirling through it all were people he did not know. He took just a split second to reach out through his link with Dean to find his brother. With a gasp of relief, Sam realized that not only was he still alive but he was close, just out on the front porch.

Sam arrived just as Will and another woman were finishing a strange exorcism ritual over a prone Pascal; Dean was sprawled on the porch next to him. A strange gray cloud erupted from Pascal and streamed away, vanishing so quickly Sam was not even sure he had seen it.

Cheryl helped Dean to sit up as he grasped his throat and dragged in deep lungfuls of air. Turning to Sam he groaned, "Vera, she needs you." Sam hesitated, his eyes snapping to Dean struggling to breathe. "The demon, it tried to get her." Dean met his eyes, "Go," he managed to gasp. Sam turned and ran.

Emma paused in the doorway watching Will kneeling next to Pascal's body, her eyes anxious and questioning. He touched Pascal's neck and sighed in relief. "No, it's gone." Emma turned and went into the house, a moment later she was screaming for someone to call the rescue squad for Jay. Will rushed into the house to assist her.

Dean recognized some of the strangers moving to help Pascal as the Priory members who had came with Will on his first visit. Cheryl tugged him to his feet, looking pale. "Come on."

"No," Dean grunted as he leaned against the doorframe. "Nora too; said it was going after Nora."

"One thing at a time, we have to check you and everyone else here over. After things are secured here we'll check on her. We can't get spread out all over these mountains."

Griffin limped out to the porch meowing loudly. Dean felt relief wash over him to see his familiar alive. He swept him up into his arms, not caring who saw and wished Sammy was still small enough he could do the same with him.

Vera exulted as she saw that slimy bastard begin to flee. Caught up in a form of bloodlust, she began to fling herself after it, hoping to destroy it once and for all. Suddenly she felt herself being snatched up by the scruff of her neck before slamming feet first into a green glade. She staggered a bit and almost fell over on her side before she grabbed a tree to keep herself upright. Looking around frantically, she realized she no longer had the sword she was using earlier.

Was she dead? No, this was not the Western shore. She was alone. Besides, she knew she could keep herself on the other side as a spirit if she tried hard enough. She would not leave them alone, not Jay, not Sam, and especially not Dean. Somehow, she knew he had been left alone too many times. All of her boys had. Without her there, her coven mates would not understand why Sam and Dean needed to be at the farm. Even as a spirit, she was certain she could get them to see why.

When she calmed down enough Vera saw Ravenmocker looking at her in disgust. She took a few angry steps towards him, realizing he had brought her here; neither back to her body or allowing her to go after the demon that had invaded and profaned her home.

"I have to go back! Take me back!" she screamed.

Ravenmocker snarled; Ashera had to be the only Guardian he had ever watched over to speak to him in that tone. Even Samuel at his worst had a modicum of respect for him.

"Guardian! Stop this at once!" Vera actually took a step back and stopped speaking, he knew his words were like a slap in the face but he had to get her to see what she was doing.

"What?" She looked confused suddenly, retreating into one-word responses. How could such a gifted Guardian be so impossibly dense at times?

"You have other responsibilities, do you remember?" Ravenmocker said severely. Guardians and Hunters could not afford to let their emotions get the better of them. How many had stupidly sacrificed themselves for a few lives when they should have let them pass by so they could go on to save hundreds of others?

"Other responsibilities besides killing that damned thing? It violated my covenstead, my home. I'm tired of my home being stomped through, shit on and used as a fucking bowling alley by demons." Ravenmocker shook his head at her profanity; she was far too mature and educated to use such language. He could expect it from Sam, Dean or Jay, but she was the eldest, he had far different standards for her.

"You will not succeed in killing it tonight; you will only succeed in killing yourself for nothing. Are you so anxious to have Jay take your place as Guardian?"

That finally brought some sense to his head Guardian. "Jay? What..."

Ravenmocker took her by the arm, his gentleness a contrast to his earlier harsh tone.

She found herself floating above the main hall, swarming with people, Cheryl helping Dean in the front door, Emma and Will hovering over Jay, who was next to the staircase, his body limp. A confused young woman stood over her corpse, obviously in shock at her sudden death.

Vera blinked back tears and reached towards Jay. "Lord and Lady..."

He shook her gently to get her attention. "There is a chance he will live, but he has a long road to recovery, just as you have."

Ravenmocker pulled her down the hallway past the horribly mutilated remains of woman and into the room where her body was. Another man was dead on the floor. Shade's broken body was lying next to the wall. Shade's spirit leaped to her and Vera gathered her up into her arms for the last time. Vera buried her face into her familiars' soft fur while the cat chirped at her, letting her know that she would come back to her as soon as she could.

Slowly and with compassion Ravenmocker took Shade from her, directing her attention to her own body. The strange doctor was frantically working over her, wiping gore from her face while she gurgled. He was yelling instructions at Sam, who was carefully turning her onto her side while Mike scooped blood, brains and vomit out of her mouth.

"Am I dying?" Vera asked in wonder.

"It is time to go back Ashera, you cannot stay any longer. I do not want to give the Dark side more reasons to return."

"I don't understand - am I going with you?" Vera's confusion was understandable this time as her mind and soul was slowly slipping back into her body.

"Not tonight Guardian, nor any night soon if I have the power to prevent it. Now those that are truly dead need me."

"Help!" Mike's bellow, his voice backed up with an empathic surge of desperation, made Sam sprint faster down the hall, slipping and almost falling in Ginger's entrails. He got to the door in time to see Mike kicking Billy Ray's body out of the way to get to Vera. Sam almost reeled back; how could anyone be that cold hearted?

The healer must have felt his anger because he turned and snarled. "Get over here and help me turn her, she's choking!" Only then did Sam notice Mike frantically clearing gore from Vera's face and eyes when she started gagging. Sam rushed over to help but then paused, unsure of what to do. Some of his anxiety must have caused him to start 'leaking' empathically though his shields, when for a second time Mike's ill temper was turned on him.

"Sam, suck it up! Turn her towards me on my count; try to keep her back straight unless you want to wipe her ass for the rest of her life." 

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Sam slid one of his hands under Vera's shoulders and another under her hips. He paused for a moment to ground and center, trying his best to push his worries about everyone else out of his mind for just a few moments. Then he visualized a board between his hands, flexing and bending to the curve of Vera's back. Listening for Mike's count, he slowly rolled her onto her side.

"Good Sam, good!" Mike's shout almost caused him to lose control before he ruefully understood that Mike was used to working with highly trained psychics that were not easily distracted.

"Damn it!" Sam opened his eyes to see Mike trying to rinse vomit and Billy Ray's blood out of Vera's mouth. "Come on Vera, spit! That's it Sam, good use of your telekinesis. Don't let her roll back. Keep her steady. Damn it Vera, I'm not letting anyone else die tonight." After a few coughs, Vera began to vomit again, which seemed to please the healer as he continued encouraging her to spit, using his bare fingers to scoop out some of the foulest vomit and gore Sam had ever seen out of her mouth.

Sam felt his own gorge rising as he almost began to gag when he realized that Vera must have swallowed some of the gore that had sprayed over her in a desperate attempt to breathe, but a dark glare from Mike stopped him. He just tried to hold Vera steady, desperately trying to block out all the intense emotions he could feel rattling and spiking through the house. With a groan, Sam realized that Vera was unshielded as well. Sweating, he wracked his mind for everything Vera, Jay and Nora had taught him. Then he remembered the fairy cross he had inherited from Old Rattler. Jay had made into a crude pendant until he had time to get it set professionally.

Vera and Jay could pull energy from this earth, and these natural stone crosses we considered powerful here. Only half knowing what he was doing, he reached for the power that he hoped was linked to the natural stone cross….

_Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened._

Gasping, Sam suddenly realized what he hoped for had happened; he was somehow managing to hold Vera steady and shield her. Somewhat shaky and fluxing shielding but at least she was not as open and exposed as before. The strong, female voice that recited the Bible verse still rang through his mind. He would have to ask Nora about it.

Oblivious to the religious experience Sam was having and the minor miracle going on next to him Mike just grunted. "Good, saves me from having to do it until Atin gets here."

Sam glanced up for a second on some instinct and saw Ravenmocker at the foot of Vera's bed, smiling and looking proud.

Mike's voice surprised him. "Yeah, he's there." He did not even bother to glance up, his main attention on Vera.

Looking beyond Ravenmocker Sam almost lost his grip on Vera when he saw Shade crumpled on the floor near the wall. He gasped, remembering his vision.

"Sam!" He took a deep breath and tried to get hold of himself, relieved to see Vera's airway was clear and Mike had stopped frantically clawing at her mouth. "Ease her back down."

He could not help but glare at the healer, who was now callously pushing Billy Ray's body out of his way with his foot and not even glancing back at Ginger.

"Don't you have any respect for the dead?" Sam was pleased to see Mike look up but his face quickly transformed into something ugly. A cross between a grin and a snarl unfolded itself across Mike's face and his eyes glittered strangely.

"Billy Ray has my respect; he was a member of my Order and one of my coworkers. That," he kicked Billy Ray's body again "is just the meat sack he was wearing this lifetime. I learned how to step over the dead to get to the living when I was 12 years old. You can have your self-righteous snit later. Right now, I need you. Start looking for any sterile supplies we might have left and help me get her cleaned up. We've got to get her moved out of here. Her immune system is too weak right now to fight off infection."

Sam clamped down on his emotions and soldiered on, as his father taught him, realizing to a certain extent Mike was right. But his coldness, his lack of emotion or sorrow over the deaths of two people he knew chilled Sam to the core.

A few moments later a grim-faced and competent team of Priory medical staff stepped into the room while others began collecting the remains of Ginger and Billy Ray. As Sam carefully picked his way out of the room he spared a moment to wonder if Mike had always been this soulless and if not, what had made him this way?

A few moments later, he realized he had been barefoot the entire time and he was now tracking bloody footprints through out the house. He headed for the shower.

It was even later before he realized Mike could see Ravenmocker.

(Matthew 7:7-8)

The Head of the Priory gazed moodily out the window of his SUV into the moonlit fields. The situation on Half Moon Farm was critical. The Comacines had only succeeded in alienating the farm residents, which included two emerging Lines, one Guardian and one Hunter. He had planned a very different introduction to the world of Orders and Lines for Vera. Thankfully, the Comacines could admit when they were out of their depth and agreed to hand over the territory to his Order.

He watched his team leader make his way across the yard toward his vehicle. Nathan St. James was the strongest Empath he knew; strong enough that he could not just manipulate emotions but also actually implant thoughts. The situation required delicate handling and even though Nathan was a youngster at 25, he was very politically perceptive. He would likely challenge him at the next election for Priory leader in 14 years.

After Nathan closed the door quietly, they sat in silence.

"Did they notice anything?" Will's voice was low.

"No. After living with Vera and helping raise Jay, Emma has a strong empathic resistance but it wasn't a problem to convince her to let me take over. I sent Dean and Sam off to bed, they're exhausted. Vera is in stable condition and I tagged Jay myself until the Coms Empath, Blake Dalton, arrives in the morning." Nathan sneered; it was obvious he did not think too highly of Dalton's ability to handle Jay.

Will nodded. It was not how he planned to woo Vera but he was an opportunist. After dealing with the Comacines, his Order would look like saints in comparison. The Priory had a kinder, gentler plan. Will viewed Wake County as a nature preserve. Guard the perimeter, give them their natural habitat to live in and then carefully exploit them for his own purposes. They could send their best and brightest to Vera to train, borrow Sam and Jay occasionally for special projects and let Dean and Emma take care of the day-to-day issues.

"Work on Jay and Sam. Dean already suspects that the Coms are manipulating Sam. See if you can reinforce that to make Dean even more upset with them. Provoke Jay as much as possible to fight with the Comacines – that will cause a lot of tension. Be sure that Vera is shielded from all of this; I do not want her agitated as she heals. Support Emma as much as possible, she'll keep all of them from totally flying apart. Foster their resentment of the Comacines."

"The last part won't be difficult at all. I'll do as much as I can before most of them leave."

Will nodded. "Plant the seeds. With a little careful managing, this will work."

After Nathan slipped out of the car, Will slumped in his seat, still staring out into the fields while his mind carefully turned over each part of his plan.

Slowly, he realized someone was standing out in the field, after a moment of staring he realized who – actually, what it was.

Tall man, dark skin, long hair; Will froze. It had to be Ravenmocker. Some of his Order had occasional sightings of him while venturing into the area to hike or camp. He kicked himself mentally; how could he have forgotten the Kestersons were not just any Guardian Line? They had their own Principality.

Ravenmocker gazed back at him and even though he did not say a word Will got the message clear enough.

_You will not use my Lines for your purposes. I will use your Order for mine._

He slowly nodded; glad this was all the Principality was demanding of him. He could curse his Order. Will shuddered and picked up his cell to call Nathan. His mission had just radically changed.

Nora knew what the angry snarl outside of her house was in the wee hours of the morning. She did have to admit though; she was getting a bit tired of all these late night visits.

Nonetheless, she slipped on her dressing gown and opened her front door. She stared at the dark and curling cloud of blackness just beyond the garden gate; somehow, it managed to swallow up the moon and starlight shone down from the clear night sky.

"No, you can't come up here. My family's blood is too strong and too close."

It snarled again, audible even to the non-Gifted. A slow, grim smile spread across Nora's old face.

"Run and run fast. You'll be dead, not just banished but dead by the end of the year. Remember I told you, the last of the Bonesteel Line. Maybe I should be thanking you, for without your darkness the Winchester Line may have never came to be. Your brethren will curse you down the centuries for what you have created in those two boys. Strong Hunters and you managed to chase them right into the open arms of this land. You've given me more strong heirs in my Guardianship."

The darkness swirled and thrashed, angry.

"Go on. I need to be up early to start gathering and putting up the fruits of my garden. You'll be gathering in your own harvest soon enough."

Nora shut the door firmly behind her and realized she was also shutting the door on her active Guardianship as well. Now was the time to teach and enjoy what was left of the rest of her life. If what she Saw was true, all of her heirs, from Vera to Kayla, would be home by the end of the year.

With a regretful sigh, Nora realized that she may as well stay up and get some weaving done. Some of those Priory folk would be checking on her in a few hours. She would be glad to let these youngsters take over. She had a bumper crop of cucumbers and tomatoes this year she needed to can.

It was hours later before Dean finally collapsed into his bed. Will told the Comacines the Priory was taking over the territory and that Nathan St. James was in charge. Somehow, Nathan had calmed down Emma and half the household as well. Priory medics were watching Jay carefully. He had suffered a concussion and was sleeping from his earlier dose of pills and it was difficult to asses his injuries. Vera was alive but very weak after her astral projection. Most of the Comacines were in shock after losing two of their members. Pascal and Zip were sleeping in Vera's upstairs bedroom with LaShonda watching over them. Sam, who managed not to be injured was still helping get things settled around the old farmhouse.

Sam watched as Emma performed her priestess duties, wondering how after everything that happened Emma could still be so rock steady. Once she knew Jay was out of danger and settled in his bedroom, she began a series of rituals to clear the violent energy out of the house. Although he wasn't Pagan, he watched her with an almost compulsive fascination. Emma just looked at him for a moment thoughtfully and nodded to him. Without saying anything, she went to bed.

Not ready to sleep yet, Sam wandered into the living room. On the coffee table were all Dean's guns and cleaning supplies. Somehow the table hadn't been knocked over in the chaos. Starlight crawled out from under the couch mewing pitifully, her dark tail curled between her legs and her ears pinned down in distress.

Cuddling Star to his chest, Sam realized that he's been subconsciously looking for his little familiar. Now that he's found her he was exhausted and stumbled upstairs to his and Dean's bedroom. Dean was sound asleep with Griffin snuggled to his side. Sam checked that Dean was still breathing easily. It made him uneasy that Dean slept so deeply with all the strangers in the house. He could tell Nathan was a powerful Empath and was calming as many people as he could. Usually Dean could tell when an Empath manipulated him, but whether it was because he was too exhausted or just did not notice, Sam was not sure. As soon as Nathan suggested Dean go to bed, he did.

After everything that happened, Sam was glad to crawl into bed with his brother. He knew that he and Dean sharing a bed was not normal, but so far, no one here had complained about it. When he was a kid, he always felt safe when he and Dean shared a bed.

The demon had came back; first mom, then Jess and now after Vera and Nora. The demon wanted to kill all the women in his life. Sobbing softly, he stroked Star and wondered if even she was safe, glad that Dean was already asleep.

Dean wanted him to go to the Priory, split them up so he could go to the Conclave for them in case the Comacines did not let them go. He agreed, but not for the reasons same reasons. He had to go to keep Vera and Nora safe. Was Nora even alive? Nathan was going to check on Nora first thing in the morning, he said something about assigning his sister to stay with the elderly Guardian. Sam thought he would die himself if anyone else died or was hurt because he was close to them.

All of this was his fault; Vera getting hurt in the first place because she was rescuing him. All the magical protections were gone from the farm because she pulled the energy to fight the demons so the demon managed to get in and possess Pascal. All the deaths tonight, all the injuries were indirectly caused by him.

What had Ravenmocker told him? His death could cause a war that killed hundreds. Even though he had been rescued, three people had still died. Dean, Vera and Jay were all hurt, and Zip and Pascal were traumatized by what had happened. The Comacines and the Priory of Nyx were both mourning their lost members.

For a moment Sam was surprised any of them wanted him around. Ben had talked with him a few moments right before he came upstairs. He told him no one blamed him; it was the demon's fault, not his.

With a start and a sudden stop to his sobs, he remembered what Jess had told him in a dream a few days ago. You can never blame yourself for the actions of evil. Maybe not blame himself, but this still all happened because of him. Sam decided that until the demon was gone, he could not come back. Star looked at him in confusion, but he stroked her head and she fell back to sleep.

Sam had just begun drifting off when he heard angry voices outside the windows and the sound of a body being slammed up against a car.

Creeping quietly to the window, he was surprised to see who was arguing. Mike and Will were pacing angrily around one another.

"Why did you reveal yourself as a healer now? Why?" Sam knew Mike could be a bitch, but the sheer amount of rage in his voice surprised him. What was even more shocking was that he looked to be almost to the point of tears. "Forty damned years without a break. You think you only owe Vera? Is that it?"

"I don't owe anybody anything." Will wasn't speaking as loudly, but the sheer intensity of what he was saying carried faintly.

"Then heal Vera yourself." Mike abruptly turned away and started walking out towards the fields.

"Damn it Mike, I'm not nearly as powerful as you are. Only you can make her walk again."

Mike whipped around to mock the smaller man. "So? She doesn't need to walk to teach. That's all you wanted her for anyways." Will just stood still and stared at Mike, finally saying something Sam could not catch. Whatever it was did not make Mike any happier. "Don't take the moral high road here Woodfin. I'm not figuring to be a part of your schemes. You want something out of her."

Will's only response was a sharp laugh. "Says the man who rakes in hundreds of millions each year healing for the highest bidder."

"And you heal for nothing? No pay, no backroom deals, no favors? Don't make me laugh."

Both of their voices dropped again for a few moments so that Sam could not make out what they were saying until Will raised his voice again.

"…after the way you were dressing down Zip..."

Mike's response was an angry roar that startled the horses. "Don't interfere in how I run my family and I won't interfere in yours!"

"Then heal Vera damn it!"

"You should have thought of that when you withheld critical information. I had to take that bastard Light Feather's report you moron. You knew there was demon activity in this area. Were you hoping we all got killed?"

"I lost one of my people too, you self-centered ass. Look, just heal her Mike. You're going to have Jay as you own personal pet for the next year and a half. Do you really think he'll work with you if you let Vera be crippled?"

"You pin all the blame for this on me Woodfin and you can just go pick out a wheelchair now."

Both Mike and Will's voices went soft, so quiet that Sam could barely hear what they were saying. Will's tone seemed defensive, Mike's was strangely wheedling. Sam carefully continued to peer out at them, the moonlight so strong the two were casting shadows.

They apparently had come to some sort of agreement and Will wheeled away to head back into the house, but Mike was not through.

"Wait Woodfin, we don't have a deal quite yet."

"What the hell else could you possible want?"

"How did you hide the fact you are a healer all these years? How are you hiding your aura?" Mike's question was greeted by silence. "Vera, it was Vera who taught you." Mike's voice held a strange mix of aggravation, possessiveness, anger and affection.

Will took a few angry steps towards him. "Do you know what you're asking me for? Aside from the Kestersons my Order is the only ones who know how to do it. Besides, isn't it a little late for you?"

"That's my price for Vera walking Woodfin. Take it or leave it."

Their voices dropped back to an angry grumble. Sam was confused; Jay was already teaching Pascal and Zip. Didn't Mike know that?

The Comacine healer's voice rose again where Sam could hear. "I have family to protect too you idiot, or have you forgotten what Fawn is, or any of our other kids?"

"I think your heart just got three sizes too big Mikey. You don't want it for yourself; you want it for the children."

"Damned right I do! No one should go through what I did as a kid. This knowledge can keep them safe. They can hide in plain sight."

"Fine Mike, you win. I'll have someone in my Order teach you."

Mike turned, triumphant and began to stride back to the house. Will stood alone, looking up into the sky with a sly smile on his face.

Sam crept back into bed, wondering at all the layers of politics swirling around them. He may have only known Vera for a few weeks, but even he knew that she would have taught the Comacines her tricks for free if it protected people. Will had to know that too. He was just letting Mike feel like he had won something.


	28. Chapter 28

**Death in Appalachia, Chapter 29: The Great Escape**   
**Summary:** Dean has a plan. Goodbyes are said.

The sun had barely risen over the mountains when Nora heard two SUVs rumbling up the road. Nora was knitting in her favorite rocker on the porch waiting. A young man in his mid-twenties, an older woman and a dog approached. The young man gave a smile that flashed dimples. "Morning Ms. Bonesteel, Dean asked me to look in on you. I'm Nathan St. James." 

Nora nodded and then fixed him with a gimlet eye. "Tell Dean I'll be fine, and I won't have any of your mind tricks young man. I know all about it. Tell Will I'll be keeping an eye on you."

The young man nodded quickly, a rueful expression on his face as if he should have known he would get this type of reception. "I'll be staying at Half Moon Farm while your Guardians are in Hawaii. I've assigned Jordan," he indicated the willowy woman beside him, "to stay with you and help in any way."

Nora noted the family resemblance. "Your sister?"

Nathan's smile reached his eyes.

"Yes," Jordan grinned, "I am a trained search and rescue worker. This is Dino," she indicated the Bloodhound beside her, "he is trained in both tracking/trailing and as a cadaver dog. Most search and rescue dogs aren't as talented."

Nathan quickly outlined his plan for his sister to begin work on finding the bodies of the hikers in the hills, using Nora's cabin as a base for now.

Nora nodded, she appreciated having the company and she was missing Old Rattler something fierce. She would not have accepted another psychic. Nathan knew that, but Jordan was a ground, almost as strong as Dean. She also had the aura of earth magic about her. 

After Nathan left, Nora set Jordan to work in the garden picking cucumbers and tomatoes while she went to fix some of her special lemonade. Nora hummed as she worked, relieved that the poor souls of the demons other victims would be found. They could be laid to rest and their friends and families would have at least some answers.

Joe found himself moved by the strange but satisfying ceremony held by Will and Emma. Although both were Pagan, they strived to make the memorial service as spiritual and inter-faith as possible. This simple ceremony acknowledged what had really happened to not only the victims of last night's demon but the victims of the other demons as well. Martha and Rattler's official funerals were tomorrow. Although they would be honored as heroes in both ceremonies, there were no secrets here, no carefully edited and incomplete truths.

The early morning sun beat down on the still slightly muddy fields just beyond the gardens behind the house. Will and Emma had decided not to use the ritual circle on the back of the property out of respect for those here who were not Pagan. Still, there was a peaceful tranquility here as life abounded all around them. He could smell the drying straw, see the blaze of marigolds planted around the edges of the vegetable garden and hear the squirrels chattering in nearby trees. Cats, dogs and several of the horses appeared to be attending as well.

Sam and Dean stood next to him in silent support, each holding their cats. Vera and Jay were still in the house, Vera for obvious reasons and Jay with a concussion. Mike, the asshole doctor, looked grim. Joe wondered how he dealt with having the healing gift but was powerless to stop all death and bloodshed last night.

Zip was sobbing quietly, rubbing his upper arms and shoulders, unconsciously trying to wipe away the feeling of blood.

He turned his attention back to Will and Emma, who were now speaking about Martha. Joe felt cold tears unexpectedly running down his face. It had been three days and he still had a hard time believing she was gone. He kept expecting her to walk through the door at home, unhooking her belt and carefully putting away her sidearm. Now, whatever Will and Emma were doing made it painfully clear that he would never see her again.

His equilibrium was somewhat restored by the end of the ceremony when they were honoring Shade, Vera's cat. Before the past few days Joe would have been offended by a memorial service for a cat being included, but after all Griffin had done the night of the storm he understood.

Sam's little cat began squalling, her high pitched cries of distress seemed to be the breaking point for many people as several of the more stoic broke down themselves.

After the ceremony, there were embraces and shared tears among the Order members. Joe accepted their sympathies but stayed beside Sam and Dean, accepting their steadfast support. The two young men, moved to silent tears by the ceremony, held themselves with admirable dignity. As everyone was leaving, Dean clasped him on the shoulder with a firm squeeze that was both comforting and understanding.

He met Dean's eyes; he knew the plan was still on for later today. Joe nodded slightly to show he understood. Joe went into the house to see Jane Arrowood and to wait for a chance to talk to Dean.

Sam signaled Dean he wanted to talk, so they wandered the edge of the fields out towards the hay barn. The farm was sprawling, so there were still sections of it the two of them did not know very well. The thoughts that kept running through Sam's mind during the ceremony were revenge and guilt. Why had they wasted so much time here when they could have been hunting down that evil hell spawn? How could he have let Jessica's killer get away last night?

"Dean, let's leave together."

"What? I can't do that. I promised Vera I'd look out for Jay," Dean said, his voice still raspy from being choked by the demon.

"Look," Sam grimaced doubting that either Vera or Jay would live if they stayed around much longer. "They'd be better off without us. That demon will never stop hunting me."

Dean scowled, "You want us to just abandon them. Who was it that insisted only last week that our future was here?" He narrowed his eyes, "Who are you?"

Sam was exasperated, "How many more people are going to die or get hurt because we're targets? We've got work to do, I've never seen you turn down a job before and that demon is the biggest hunt of our lives. Damn it Dean, I'm not saying forever! It's just until we get the demon."

Dean shook his head stubbornly. "A month ago I'd have agreed with you but not now. We can't beat this thing by ourselves and certainly not right now. I'm not hunting with you until you get yourself under control."

Sam thrust out his jaw mulishly, "What do you mean, not hunting with me? I am in control."

Dean scoffed, "Since when? You're still tagged, how much of it is Ben's doing and how much is yours?"

Sam jerked back, totally offended, "I helped Mike with Vera last night and I did fine."

Dean stood absolutely still for a moment staring at him, as if he was taking his measure. "You were just hanging on, weren't you? Sam I can not afford to have you flipping out on me in the middle of the action."

"I'm trying to get a grasp on things here Dean. I have witches giving me lessons, psychics with a straw in my brain and a demon stalking me. I just want to leave before anyone else gets hurt."

"No one else is going to get hurt! Emma put up the protections. Nora is safe. What is the real problem Sammy?"

Sam winced at the name, how could he explain he did not want to be separated from his big brother without sounding like a baby. Not now, not with things so messed up. Not when he was realizing the strength and depth of the bond between them and how much he needed his brother.

Dean, for once, caught on, "It's only for a couple months Sam. We'll be together again." Dean put his hand on his neck, squeezing lightly. "With you going to the Priory all our bases are covered. If the Comacines make excuses and keep us in Hawaii, then you can make our application to the Conclave. They want to keep every strong psychic they find and we can't hunt while they have you locked up. We're not alone anymore Sammy. You know Vera and the coven here can help us."

Sam was desperate, Dean was making sense but he needed his brother more than the others did. He ramped up the empathy to overwhelm Dean and convince him to leave.

Dean pushed him away angrily. "Stop that crap! I can tell what you're doing and I won't put up with it. We have a good plan just stick to the plan!"

"Am I supposed to be your good little soldier and blindly follow orders the way you did for dad? We saw how well that worked out." Sam spat out bitterly. It was a cheap shot but he was pissed.

Dean threw a roundhouse punch that almost laid Sam out in the dirt. As Sam staggered to get his footing, Dean got in his face, furious.

"Sam, things can't go back the way they were. You think this psychic stuff is just going to go away by itself? You need training and I can't help you with that. The only job I've ever had was to look out for you. Right now that means making sure you get what you need and I can't give that to you." After a few tense moments Dean spoke again, "Let's go see Nora. Maybe she can talk some sense into you. She's made more sense than everyone combined since we got to the Twilight Zone."

Sam stormed off. He'd go see Nora because he wanted to say goodbye to her anyways.

Zip watched the Winchester brothers from an upstairs window as Dean threw a punch and Sam stormed off. Admiration shined in his eyes. Even though Dean was shorter than his brother he could more than hold his own, Dean Winchester was so cool. He saw the deputy-sheriff sneak out to see Dean. They disappeared into the carriage house where Dean had moved his classic car.

Something was going on and he wanted to be part of it. He easily gave his distracted keepers the slip and snuck out to find out what was going on. He overheard Dean and LeDonne talking about some kind of plan to get Sam and Maryanne to Asheville. That meant the Priory had to be involved somehow since that was where their headquarters was.

Dean never noticed him hiding in the kudzu, a thick ivy-like plant that was creeping up the side of the old brick building. The interesting thing about the psychic invisibility trick was that it made people less likely to notice you physically as well. It was the ultimate in stealth tactics.

This was his chance. Zip was more terrified of going back to Hawaii than of running away. When he first arrived in Hawaii, they tested him for psychic abilities and found none. He felt the disappointment like a razor's edge. It was unusual for a Comacine not to have any psychic ability. He was not even a ground and so the Comacines treated him as inferior when they noticed him at all. How could his Order possibly train him in an ability that was so rare they did not even recognize he had it?

Now, in less than a week, the whole community knew that he had one of the rarest psychic abilities in the world. His name was now number one on the kidnap list and he was determined to protect himself using any means necessary, even if it meant learning magic. Last night was all the proof he needed. He had used a combination of psychic ability and magic to make himself psychically invisible and it had protected him from the demon. Maybe if Billy Ray or Ginger had known... he shuddered away from the memory while scrubbing his shoulders and arms with his hands.

His Comacine family would never agree to him learning magic because of their deep entrenched suspicion of it and he could never understand that decision. They said you should stick to one or the other: psychic or magic and that it was dangerous to mix the two. By serving as translator at the Conclave for the past few years he had developed a healthy curiosity. Sneaking books from Vera's library and the brief session with Jay only reinforced it.

Running away to ask for sanctuary at the Priory with Sam was a huge risk. He knew other Orders and Lines were lurking out in the woods waiting to get their hands on him. They almost got the Stargills a few days ago. Zip refused to be punished by his Order for learning magic. He would never put his life in jeopardy by running away on his own, but with Sam, Dean and others involved, it was a calculated risk. Now he realized why Jay taught Sam the "invisible" trick. It would be the only way to move through the woods without a pack of bounty hunters on their trail or the rest of the Comacines trying to find him and drag him back.

Knowing the Priory had an energy booster who could show him the ropes was a big relief, even if it was Red Dog. The red head was almost as tall as Sam was and looked like the type that would kill for fun. He had seen both Red Dog and Will Woodfin at the Conclave but had never spoken to them. He had heard enough rumors about the two of them to know they could be very dangerous if they wanted to be.

He was sure it was no accident that a snake mysteriously bit Jennifer Greer, the Knight's only booster, while she was hiking. Zip figured the Knights were planning to ambush the farm, kill Vera and kidnap Jay. Vera escaped death three times this week, once when they were shooting at her, once from the Knights and then again last night when the demon attacked. She must have a powerful guardian angel, Zip thought, remembering Pascal talk about the angel he saw in his visions. He did a quick prayer, hoping the angel would watch over him as well.

Zip would watch and wait for his chance.

After Joe left, Dean wandered back out to the ritual circle. He thought about all that had happened in the last month and mourned the loss of his old life. Maybe Sam was right. So much had happened and these people expected so much from him. Before, he was a hunter, a brother, a son. Now he was a brother, a deputy sheriff, a Hunt leader and trainer as well. In Wake County he had a whole community looking to him for protection. Only now was he beginning to understand his role and the pressure of being in charge.

A sudden glimmer of light on the ground near the altar drew his attention. Kneeling, he found things that send a shock through him.

His fingers found the cool, sharp angles of a quartz crystal, picking it up Dean realized that this was the crystal he had used to find Sam. The silver chain was still attached and as he pulled in out of the mud his ring popped free from the earth. Dean grasped both in his fist for a moment, remembering blood and darkness; lightning and rain; bullets singing and the rolling chant of Vera's voice, strong and sure for the last time. Joe having his back, Griffin diving down a steep hill to bring him back the crystal and ring that Dean now held. Clayt Stargill's instant and steady trust, Jane Arrowood's kind words, Nora bringing hope to Dean for the first time since their father died. Despite his losing fights with cancer, Jude Rice coming to the sheriff's office to vouch for him after his arrest.

Dean felt the blur of tears prickle his eyes when he noticed a strange texture in the mud. With searching hands, he pulled the cord Vera had worn around her waist the night of the storm, its colors now dimmed with mud, but Dean remembered the blood that stained the cord under the dirt. Vera's blood, Sam's blood, how Vera had used it in a ritual that somehow saved Sammy. He remembered she also wore a necklace that night. Thinking it must be important; he continued feeling around in the muck until his fingers found it.

In the quiet sounds of the beautiful summer morning, Dean allowed himself to cry. After all that had been taken from him over the past year, and all that was being offered to him now, he realized that he really had a choice for the first time in his life. Dad was no longer around to give orders, and John Winchester's view of the world had been so screwed up that Dean felt like he was really seeing the world with his own eyes for the first time in his life.

"Damn you Dad." The low growl came as a surprise, he was not even aware he said it until he heard his own voice. With a fury, he began to pound the earth, in that instant hating his father with every fiber of his being. He was angry about his lost childhood, about Sam's near insanity, about how alone they had been and now he was so fucked up he did not know how to have a real relationship with anyone besides Sam.

Gasping, Dean finally began to calm down. No, they were not going to leave, not the way Sammy wanted. Sam was afraid of drawing the demon back. They were not alone anymore; if anyone could help them kill the demon it was Nora and the coven here on this farm. The Winchesters had run their entire lives, away from the tragedy in Lawrence, after whatever evil they could find. Now it was time to make a stand. Getting up, Dean looked at the mountains around them, the crumbling farmhouse that Vera and her friends were valiantly trying to restore and the overgrown gardens.

This was it. He and Sammy would do what was needed. Sam and Maryanne needed to go to the Priory for training and get out of the Comacine's grasp. He had given his word to Vera to watch out for Jay, even if it meant getting on an airplane to go to Hawaii. The Winchesters paid their debts.

Then he was coming home and training his team to go after that yellow-eyed son of a bitch and any other hell spawn they could find.

Dean found Emma surveying all the damage to the garden. Griffin limped beside him, almost as if he was afraid to let Dean out of his sight for two seconds. "Hi Emma, I'm Dean Winchester," he paused, "we spoke on the phone."

Emma gave him a blank look and then remembered their conversation. "Oh, yes. Sorry, but in all the confusion, I'd forgotten about you." She watched as Griffin rubbed himself around Dean's legs. "So he picked you, huh? That tall man standing next to you at the service, is he your brother Sam?"

Dean nodded and held out his hand, offering Vera's cord and necklace. "I found this out in the Circle. Maybe you should hang on to it until Vera gets better."

Emma's hands convulsed around the two items, "Her cord, there's blood on it! The necklace, the amber's melted and a lot of the jet has been broken." She slumped to the ground holding the two items; somehow this upset her even more than seeing Vera for the first time.

Dean wondered how she could tell the blood was there underneath the mud as he knelt next to her, concerned for the older woman. "It is blood, my brother's," he said slowly. "Vera was doing some sort of ritual to get rid of the demon that was leeching off him. She channeled lightning to destroy the thing."

"Why did Vera Initiate him?" Emma asked, looking up into Dean's face. "While I was performing cleansing rituals last night to the house, he followed me around. He was drawn to the energy, like a moth to a flame."

"Lots of weird shit has been happening to him lately. Our dad died, his girlfriend was killed by that demon from last night, and then he turned into this super psychic."

Emma shook her head, "No, you don't turn into one. He was one all along. I saw him holding the white kitten; you know I spent weeks bottle-feeding her. It figures she'd choose someone else."

Dean smiled looking down at Griffin, "I can't figure cats any more than psychics and yet I seem to collect them."

"You and me both," Emma stood up, waiving off Dean's offer of help. "I knew I shouldn't have left Vera alone, I knew it! She always needs someone to keep her head on straight."

Dean shrugged, "She's as stubborn as they come. I bet she never told you she was running the farm all by herself for the past month before we showed up."

By the look on Emma's face, it was obvious she was not aware. She looked furious. He told her about Jay's arrest, his parents throwing him out, the meeting with Nora, moving in, the Comacine invasion, all of it. By the end of it, Emma was fuming, "If she wasn't already on death's doorstep I'd put her there myself. Anything else she's been hiding?"

Dean laughed, a dry scratch out of his bruised throat. "You think she'd tell me? This is all stuff I found out while living here. She really didn't want to take on Sam as a student, I can understand why, with everything else that she was dealing with. But it was a matter of life and death. She saved my brother's life twice now. I owe her a lot and I'll protect Jay with my life I can promise you that."

"Good. I'll hold you to that." Emma's eyes narrowed. "I understand from Will that you and Sam want to make this your territory."

"Listen, according to Nora Bonesteel and these Orders, Vera and Jay are Guardians for this area. My brother and I are hunters. We weren't planning to stay but then everything started happening. Next thing I know, I get adopted by the Wylers, and Joe LeDonne, Maryanne and Ruby Wyler are now part of my team."

Emma regarded Dean thoughtfully and hummed. 

Dean took a breath, if anyone had the right to object, she did, considering she was the manager of the farm. "So if you have any objections to us staying here and making Half Moon Farm our base of operations, then you better say so now."

For the first time since she arrived Emma smiled, "That Impala yours?" When Dean nodded, she made up her mind, "Either you or Sam has to be a mechanic to keep that thing going. We have tractors that need tune ups. We'll settle you into the carriage house. You and Sam have to pay for the renovations and your utilities, but I think it could work out."

Dean grinned, relieved that everything was falling into place. "Engines, I understand. I think I can get Sam to guilt Mike into paying so that won't be a problem."

The sounds of "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'n Roses rocked the Impala as Dean and Sam made their way Nora's place. Dean did not want to argue any more so he kept the volume up. The Comacines were very reluctant to let Sam go with Dean, saying he was not stable enough yet. That set Sam off and made him even more determined to go see Nora.

Nora had lunch waiting for them when they arrived. She explained Jordan was off buying supplies in town so they were alone. They did not speak while they ate, Nora kept filling Dean's glass with that unique tasting lemonade, and he kept draining it. Sam steadily munched his way through a stack of chicken salad sandwiches.

They moved to the living room, Nora sat in a rocker while Dean and Sam settled on the couch. Dean fingered his ring, glad to have it back before he spoke, "I told you about my plan for Sam and Maryanne to go to the Priory, but he now doesn't want to go. He wants both of us to just leave."

Nora just looked at Sam expectantly.

Put on the spot, Sam mumbled, "I, I just think..." and his voice trailed off.

Nora looked back at Dean, who huffed at Sam.

"He wants things to be the same as they were before, us hunting together. He feels responsible for people getting killed and hurt. I tried to convince him but maybe he'll listen to you."

Nora gently chided, "Come on Sam."

"It's too dangerous for people to be around me. I just want to go back on the road again and kill that demon." Sam stood up and paced in front of the large glass window.

"Son, you'd be even more of a danger if you did that. Come along now."

"But I'm better now!"

Dean shook his head. Griffin and Starlight crawled into his lap demanding attention after having sniffed over the cabin during lunch.

"Sam, sit." Nora pointed to the chair in front of her weaving loom. Sam reluctantly obeyed, looking warily at Nora. "Now, you know how to use your hands, right?"

"I don't know how to weave, what do you want?"

Dean caught on to what Nora was up to and smirked.

"If you can use your hands you can weave, right?" She handed him the shuttle. On the loom was a half-finished bolt of cloth in muted green, gray and blue wool woven in a complex pattern. "Weave for me."

Sam shook his head, "Okay, I get it. I need training, more training." He looked frustrated, "Do you think the Priory can train me best? Maybe I can stay here instead?"

"Why, Asheville is only over a few ridges. But Sam, I want you to weave for me."

"You know I can't, I'll only mess up your cloth."

"Son, let me show you." Nora sat next to Sam and showed him how to weave.

Dean lulled by the purring from the two cats, fell asleep on the couch.

Two hours later, Sam looked over the scant inch he had woven with Nora's help. The first few rows were lumpy and tangled, but they gradually evened out. While no where near the quality of Nora's weaving, it wasn't bad for his first try.

There was a gentle peace to weaving, watching the cloth growing beneath his hands. Glancing at his watch, he reluctantly turned to Nora. "I guess Dean and I need to get going."

"Yes, son, you do."

"I hope you can pick out and reweave what I've done so your cloth isn't ruined."

"No Samuel, when you come home we'll finish it together."

Zip was alarmed when Dean and Sam took off to go see Nora. Although he was not part of their plan, he felt crushed, as if he had been left behind. Zip kept vigil in the upstairs of the house, going from room to room, and keeping watch out the windows for any sign of the escape attempt. LaShonda still distraught, was keeping watch over Jay and Pascal while the rest of his Order just thought he was restless, and let him be. No one expected him to run away. He was relieved when the Winchesters came back at first, but then he began to worry that they had changed their minds about Sam and Maryanne leaving.

The sooner he got some proper training for his ability the better; he had blown out the lights on the second floor this morning, causing more trouble. The Priory members just laughed, which was encouraging. His Order members looked like they wanted to reach for the hypodermic needles. How was his Order going to be able to train him at all? Ben had said something about getting Vera and Jay to train him, but they both were injured. It would take weeks or months for them to be healthy enough.

No, he was going to the Priory even if he had to go on his own. He was not going to spend the next few months of his life locked up and sedated waiting for Vera and Jay to heal.

Zip continued pacing the upstairs restlessly, trying to figure out how he would pull off running away, when he spotted Maryanne leading a riderless horse up the driveway. He sighed with relief as the escape was still on. This was his chance. Looking around carefully to make sure no one was too close by; Zip used his new abilities to become 'invisible' and snuck out of the old farmhouse.

Sam slipped into the altar room where Vera had been moved after the carnage of the previous night. The hall still smelled of blood despite the bleach used to clean it; Sam wondered if the stains on the floor and plaster would ever come out. His own bloody footprints still showed up clear and distinct.

He had come here to say goodbye. The Priory nurse on duty only nodded when he came in; all the altars had been removed but the room still held that feeling of sanctity.

Seeing Vera laying so still he understood Dean's need to take care of Jay. He gently leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before leaving.

Taking the stairs two at a time he entered Jay's room, where he was resting quietly. With both the Priory medical team and LaShonda checking on him every half hour the door was propped open.

Jay was awake but looked miserable. Thunder lay across the bottom of his bed. Sam slid into bed with him for a moment and held him gently. Jay did not say anything; he knew Sam was there to say goodbye. Jay just gave him a gentle kiss before Sam got the feeling that Jay was uncomfortable and just wanted to be left alone. Sam grimaced, knowing it was not anything personal. He could feel Jay's phantom aches and how tired he was. He slid out of the bed with a whispered promise to call. Sam could not quite shake a feeling of unease as he left Jay.

Entering his bedroom to pack a few things, he found someone who refused to accept his goodbyes. Sitting on top of his duffel, Starlight let out an angry squall and Sam jumped. How could something so small make that much noise. He hurried over and scooped her up trying to soothe her but she continued wailing at him. There was no doubt what she wanted.

"Star, there is no way I'm bringing you. Maybe I can get someone from the farm to..." He broke off as his familiar managed to let out an even louder squawk.

"Okay! How am I supposed to bring you along with me?" She just cheeped affectionately at him, as if she had not been screaming at the top of her tiny lungs just seconds ago. Sam just groaned; maybe Maryanne would have some ideas on how to bring a kitten along with them.

Maryanne hummed while she saddled the mare in the barn. She had brought Sissy without a saddle. The cover story was she was returning one of the farm's horses that had escaped earlier in the week. The only one 1who would know differently was Emma but Dean had let her in on the plan.

This was not how she imagined things would go when she and Ruby demanded to join Dean's team. She had hoped Dean himself would train them and they could start ghost busting right away. She was still so angry about nearly losing her sister to demons. It was a bitter pill to swallow when she learned there was an entire society of these hunters and they had these strange rules and customs. The worst was learning that at 20 years old she was considered underage.

However, her "brother" Dean had insisted that she go with Sam to the Priory in Asheville since she was psychic enough that she could be a target. He assured her they would give her some training and then after Christmas Dean would be able to take over. It was all so political. She would have preferred to stay on the farm and work while waiting for Dean, especially with her sister in hospital they were already short handed. Now with bounty hunters combing the area for psychics it was no longer an option. She had ridden here on the main county road followed by Deputy LeDonne in his car. Dean was not taking any chances of anything happening.

He assured her Sam had a psychic shielding trick that would allow them to go through the woods practically unseen. This all seemed so cloak and dagger to her, but as long as she was getting some training, it was all good. She would rather have been on the other team, Ruby and half the people in the county were planning a huge distraction to get most of the Priory and Comacines away from the farm. That sounded like loads more fun than leading a flatlander that did not know how to ride through the back woods.

A sound alerted her she was not alone and she spun around. Huddled against the wall was the young Comacine, she forgot his name. "What are you doing there?" she demanded.

He looked startled at being caught, but moved forward cautiously, keeping well out of range.

Sam picked that moment to walk in the door and stopped when he saw Maryanne and Zip watching each other warily. Star peeked out of Sam's duffle bag with interest.

"Zip, dude, what are you doing out here? Wow, you picked that up fast." Maryanne looked at Sam questioning. Sam explained that Zip was currently 'invisible' psychically. Maryanne rolled her eyes; if this was the shielding trick Dean was going on about, she was not impressed. She had her own way of getting through a forest undetected.

Zip was looking at Sam, "Take me with you. I want to go too."

Sam and Maryanne exchanged looks, "Go where?" Sam prevaricated.

Zip held up his cell phone. "I can stop the two of you with one call. But I won't. I want to ask sanctuary at the Priory too."

Maryanne stared. Blackmail? The midget had balls. Sam looked thunderstruck, "Why? They treat you like a little prince. Zip, we're going because we have to!"

Zip scoffed, "Yeah now they notice me. Listen, I have my own reasons and I'm hoping Red Dog will train me."

Maryanne shrugged, she just wanted to get the hell out of there before anyone else showed up. "He can ride double with me. I'll just throw a saddle blanket on Sunny Boy." The kid was so tiny; riding double shouldn't be a problem. She could ride bareback and keep him on the horse without much trouble.

Zip looked back at Sam, pleading with his eyes. "Let me come with you."

"Dude, this is so fucked up!" Sam complained. "Fine, it's not like I can stop you without the Coms busting us. We have to move. Turn off your cell phone and take out the batteries so they can't track us with GPS."

"Sam, you'd better help him up," Maryanne said, indicating that Zip should sit in front of her. She smiled evilly, she would get her revenge on the twerp, an "accidental" caress here, a touch there and the kid would have blue balls by the end of the trip.

Zek Phillips stood beside his Range Rover on a dirt road with a couple of Ruby's brothers. He checked his watch again worried; they were late. Finally, he heard the rustling of underbrush and was relieved to see two horses. Sam looked pretty beat up but the big surprise was the youngster sitting in front of Maryanne. The young woman was over a head taller than he was. "I was getting worried about the two of you." The elderly lawyer stared at the strange young man for a moment. "Is he coming too?"

"Yes sir." The youngster said quietly, looking away as Sam helped him off the back of the horse. Zek glanced at Sam who shrugged.

"Any trouble?" Zek asked, noticing Sam's scrapes and bruises while Maryanne's cousins watched the brush carefully, loaded shotguns in hand.

Sam glared at the horse as he fished a kitten out of a saddlebag. "I think he tried to run me into every blackberry patch and low hanging tree limb he could find."

Before Zek could reply, Maryanne spoke up with more heat and snap than he'd ever heard her use before.

"First of all, Sissy is a mare. Second, it's not her fault you're as tall as the Jolly Green Giant and don't know how to ride." It was obvious in the dispute between Sissy and Sam she was firmly on the side of the horse. Sam stared at her for a moment in disbelief while her kinfolk laughed.

Zek shook his head; he could tell it was going to be a long drive to Asheville. Mitch and Leroy each took a horse and mounted up to ride them home, still laughing at Sam. "Well, let's get going," he said sliding into the driver's seat. He mumbled to himself, "I can't believe I'm involved in all this conspiracy at my age."

Sam and Zip sat in the back, ready to duck or hide if they needed to. Starlight was sprawled on the floor under Sam's feet, sleeping hard only the way a kitten could. Maryanne sat up front with Zek. Sam turned to Zip, "Dude, I guess you're not too worried about bounty hunters if you're willing to just take off like that."

Zip looked nervous and swallowed. "I've never had to worry about that. No one thought I was psychic before. I lived on my own in Atlanta for the past year. At least I know the Priory members won't keep me against my will if I decide to leave."

"Dude, you're not serious."

Zip blinked, "About the Priory? Yes, they always return any Comacines they find, for a fee. But they are the only Order to do that. We aren't sure why that is."

"So this kidnapping thing really is a threat? And it's just not the Knights?"

Zip shuddered, "There are around 20 Orders and many Lines. Besides the Comacines there are five other Orders that don't kidnap."

"What?" Sam asked in disbelief, "most of the Orders kidnap kids? I thought it was just the Knights."

Zip shook his head vigorously. "That's not counting the freelance bounty hunters either. The more powerful a psychic the kid is, the greater the chance of them being targeted. Mike was the only known healer, before he turned 21 he was the top of the list. He was kidnapped twice."

"Twice, by who? What happened?" Sam looked fascinated in spite of himself.

Zip frowned trying to remember the details. "The Krypteans kidnapped him the first time, he was about 10. They didn't get too far with him before we got him back. The second time was much worse. When Mike was 15, the Order of the Peacock Angel kidnapped him and Ben. They threatened to kill Ben unless Mike healed their leader and father a child with the leader's daughter.

Sam looked disgusted and even Zek grunted in the front. "They forced him to..."

"It took months before we were able to find them, and by that time the daughter was pregnant."

"What happened to the mother and the baby?"

"The mother was held in custody until the child was born. It was a girl and she wasn't a Comacine. We released the mother but the baby was put into foster care. Mike didn't want to have anything to do with her. I think she was fostered out to distant relatives of Ben's in Scandinavia."

Sam was stunned, "Dude, does Mike have any more kids?"

"Oh yes. He's a healer. It's expected that powerful psychics reproduce." Zip's voice trails off as he realizes that now includes both him and Sam. Sam was obviously thinking the same thing. "Uh, he has three other daughters. He had a son but he died when he was young."

"Does he ever see any of his kids?" Sam asked sounding sick.

"Well I know he sees the two youngest a lot. A cousin of Ben's lives in Hawaii with her partner. They each had a girl with Mike. The other daughter, Ingrid, I don't know much about her. She's on the rogue rescue team, last year she worked with Pascal. I'm a bit surprised she wasn't sent on this mission since you were suspected of being here. We figured without training, you'd be rogue by now."

Sam frowned, "So, what usually happens with these kidnappings? What about you? How'd you become a Comacine?"

Zip got very quiet. "Well I was born a Comacine, you don't become one, you either are or you're not. As to what happens when you are kidnapped, a lot depends on your age. The goal of the kidnapping Order is to acquire new members, bribery works well on the younger kids. They are treated well and given everything. But older kids are tortured." He turned pale as he looked away.

Sam was compassionate, but steely in wanting to know, "What do they do to them? What would they do to you and Jay?"

Zip began to tremble. "In Jay's case, they'd kill Vera and his parents. So he has no one left to go back to. Then use drugs, empathy and other manipulation techniques to brainwash him."

Sam was horrified, "Kill his family?"

Zip nodded, looking out the window.

Sam wanted to know more but changed the subject for Zip's sake. "So what do all these Orders do? Your Order helps hunters and searches for rogue psychics; I'm not clear on what the Priory does.

Zip snorted, "I think we're about to find out what the Priory's priorities are," he sounded dubious. "Most Orders group themselves together for some cause or another. The Maccabeans are freedom fighters; their cause is more political, they fought the British in India, took part in the American Revolution, worked against Apartheid in South Africa and supported Lech Walesa in Poland. The Order of Arcadia fights industrialization, mega corporations and pollution. The Santiagans are religious fanatics that would love to burn Vera, Jay and all magic users at the stake. You'll see when we get to the Conclave."

Sam's thoughts turned to Dean. He wondered if he had much trouble in carrying out his part of the plan. Dean, Joe, Ruby and what seemed like about half the county was going to create a diversion during their escape.


End file.
